![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Scrapple
« previous entry | next entry »
Jan. 18th, 2007 | 12:35 pm
Below is an old entry that I never wrapped up. It's from the third Friday in September of 2006:
So, Phoenix Neutrino Project rehearsal last night was a great time, mostly!
Even with so many people interested in helping out with PNP, we almost came up short last night by a few people for the bare minimum to run a full run-through. Luckily, after some waiting and tracking down some lost folks, we had hit critical mass.
For this rehearsal, Jon, Bret, and I were pegged as the cameramen/directors for the segments and full run-through, since the plan is to have us shoot for tonight's show. It's really wild to see us ride the learning curve, to see each other's styles, and to catch (after the fact, while watching footage) both awesome elements that work their way into shots and scenes without being aware of it and missed opportunities to do cool stuff (which will require developing an inside, outward eye, on the part of the directors, to catch these opportunities the future if that makes sense).
Bret is probably the most polished of the three of us, in terms of camerawork. He's been a part of, and shot his own, shorts, mini-projects, and whatnot for years. He's also a complete film junkie and has kind of created his own personal film school in the same manner of Kevin Smith and the director of Waking Life (whose name escapes me right now - no, wait! Richard Linkletter!) by really delving into the oeuvres of directors he enjoys.
Right now, Bret's strengths, I think, lie in his ability to capture action and having a certain dynamicism to the scenes he shoots. I know that, personally, that's something I hope to learn from. I've noticed a tendency already in my shooting to kind of plop actors in one spot (usually leaning against a wall of some kind - boo) and go from there. While I've managed to get some good shots here and there, I don't want to box myself into that. I really want to master as much as I can, so that I can be as flexible as a cameraperson/director as possible -- all so that I can be ready for whatever the scene needs.
I just think back to the crazy confrontation scene in the second beat of the Saturday Chicago/Detroit Neutrino Project show at PIF 2006 (I got to sit-in with Neutrino Project for PIF!). In our series of scenes, it just started off with me and Clif as good, but somewhat embattled friends. In the second beat, we encounter Josh, a construction worker, who provides us with some static. There was an amazing action sequence that was shot! Well, it wasn't crazy amazing in the same way that a Jackie Chan or John Woo action sequence is, but there was this fight (including a crazy thrown bottle of water that practically explodes!) that felt amazing. I'm sure that Starcevich, who I'm pretty sure was our shooter, was able to make magic of it, since he's pretty awesome. (I got to sit-in on Chicago/Seattle Neutrino Project during PIF 2005, and Star shot the segment I was in.)
I say "felt amazing" and "pretty sure" in the last few sentences because other than the last scene or two of that Saturday night of PIF 2006 Neutrino, I haven't seen all of that particular show (though, I think Fuzzy has it online). That's another thing that's kind of funny, weird (in a good way), and awesome (all rolled up into one!) about Neutrino: You don't get to see much of it when you're a part of it. While improvisation on stage is, to a certain degree, flying blind with all of the thrills and great things that come out of that interesting mix of intent, creation, openness to whatever comes, trust, and discovery, Neutrino Project adds a new layer to sense of flying blind. Wow.
(My mind kind of ran off into a field of daisies and dandelions - all of that was to basically say that I think as we get more experienced, learn to trick things out, and get some Neutrino mileage under our belts, I think Bret totally has the potential to get those crazy, action-filled scenes on tape.)
I've noticed that Jon, in his shooting, is really great at capturing small, but really interesting and ultimately meaty and meaningful moments from his actors, and his cuts. As an improvisor, Jon has a really great sense of timing, so for him, as a director, to be able to exploit (for lack of a better word) those juicy moments that others might blow past makes some kind of sense to me. Also, Jon has a pretty extensive background in post-production, editing, and all of that good stuff. I think he has a degree from NAU related to such studies. I don't remember exactly, though.
So what are my strengths?
I have no idea yet. Also, I'm a big fan of waiting to let other people and outside eyes chime in.
Last night, I had a blast!
I got to play a lot with cutting to different shots, which I hadn't done too much of previously.
As for what's playing my head, The Cure's "Close to Me." It's
---
So, yeah.
A few spots of commentary ...
I still don't yet know where my areas of strength are in regards to shooting for PNP, but I know that I have been working on not simply throwing actors up against a wall boringly. I think I've done pretty decent at that.
In addition to telling whoever's in my shooting group that they need to be prepared to run like hell, I also tell them to do pretty much they want, especially in terms of moving around and making me work, because I'll find a way to keep up.
I definitely do need to play around more with different cuts, and creating rhythms and the like.
One of my favorite shows to shoot was the Paper Heart benefit in November. It was during the day, so there were no issues with finding good light. The manic pace of how things went down were perfect!
Everyone was firing on all cylinders it seemed, and our group was particularly superfun to shoot. Man, just thinking about it -- I really want to recount it all. I really don't have time for that.
While shooting our (Shane, Jenn, and Michelle - acting; Tommy Schaeffer - runner) first scene, Mack made a cameo appearance and started leaving with his car. It was the very car around which we were shooting, so we basically brought him into our scene. We ended up tossing Michelle in his car with him, while Shane and Jenn went off on their date.
Our second scene was shot at the VFW hall next to the Paper Heart. We had our sweethearts butter up the VFW folks earlier in the day, and got permission to shoot in their dining hall, which was awesome. It came complete with old, crusty beans in a serving pan from much earlier in the day.
During that second scene, Jenn and Shane are on a date, and Jenn pulls a great move by feeding Shane a spoonful of beans in that girlfriend kind of way. It was extra hilarious (unbeknownst to the viewers) because before we shot that scene Jenn and Shane were talking about how disgusting the bowl of beans that I had them serve themselves was. Shane, within the scene (because the scene is not about eating beans at all), retaliates by loading up a spoon full of beans and feeding it to Jenn.
At some point, Michelle and Mack barge in, and Michelle confronts shane by slamming down a bowl of beans, which sends some bean splatterings flying. Also, someone -- Mack, I think -- starts eating cornbread, and spits it out at Shane and Jenn. It was pretty awesome.
Our third scene, we split to shoot at the Westward Ho hotel (and now a kind of retirement home), and that went fantastic.
I got to shoot the final wrap-up scene, and that was a total blast and involved a lot of a rocking RV. It was probably the most fun I've had shooting a final scene, and I think it may have been one of my best efforts in terms of wrapping things up. Unfortunately, the audience never got to see it. Somehow, things got jumbled and the show was sent straight to credits without that last wrap-up scene. It was pretty painful to not get to see how it looked.
After a billion years of waiting, though, that daytime show (hopefully with that final scene intact) should see light of day on the PNP website (you can actually catch video of most of our shows there in the "gallery" section). At Galapagos rehearsal, Mark mentioned that they finally got a hold of the tape and that uploading it had been tricky.
Anyway, there's a PNP show this weekend. If you open up a Phoenix New Times and the College Times, there are some write-ups for this weekend's show. I'd post some links, but I'm really short on time. Also, the Phoenix New Times write-up online doesn't have a direct link, and the College Times' website is all out of sorts right now.
---
Oh yeah!
The Cure's "Close to Me" is just fantastic - that's all you need to know!
---
Despite their shaky labor practices and trying not to give in to conspicuous consumption and all of that crap, I'm still a sucker for Nike.
Here's a link to a behind the scenes look at some new commercial that they're doing (I likes):
http://videos.onsmash.com/v/dHG3YGD2di8B
---
Quickly!
I finally picked up Jay-Z's Kingdom Come.
I don't know, man.
He comes out of the gates, for roughly the first third, pretty hard.
Then, between some pretty subpar (especially considering Jay-Z's ears for beats) instrumentals, that dumb breathy voice thing he's been doing, and the "getting my grown man on"/cruise ship rap thing, Jay-Z kind of fumbles.
Everyone's already mentioned it, but it's pretty true. Just as Jay-Z has come into the habit of referring to himself as the Michael Jordan of rap with respect to his successes and dominance, he's also shown a little bit of the rust and creaky knees that MJ had to shake off during his post-retirement comebacks.
"Lost One," despite its semi-somber/reflective twinge, is petty badass. The way he flips the Beyoncé verse is ridiculous.
Also:
So, Phoenix Neutrino Project rehearsal last night was a great time, mostly!
Even with so many people interested in helping out with PNP, we almost came up short last night by a few people for the bare minimum to run a full run-through. Luckily, after some waiting and tracking down some lost folks, we had hit critical mass.
For this rehearsal, Jon, Bret, and I were pegged as the cameramen/directors for the segments and full run-through, since the plan is to have us shoot for tonight's show. It's really wild to see us ride the learning curve, to see each other's styles, and to catch (after the fact, while watching footage) both awesome elements that work their way into shots and scenes without being aware of it and missed opportunities to do cool stuff (which will require developing an inside, outward eye, on the part of the directors, to catch these opportunities the future if that makes sense).
Bret is probably the most polished of the three of us, in terms of camerawork. He's been a part of, and shot his own, shorts, mini-projects, and whatnot for years. He's also a complete film junkie and has kind of created his own personal film school in the same manner of Kevin Smith and the director of Waking Life (whose name escapes me right now - no, wait! Richard Linkletter!) by really delving into the oeuvres of directors he enjoys.
Right now, Bret's strengths, I think, lie in his ability to capture action and having a certain dynamicism to the scenes he shoots. I know that, personally, that's something I hope to learn from. I've noticed a tendency already in my shooting to kind of plop actors in one spot (usually leaning against a wall of some kind - boo) and go from there. While I've managed to get some good shots here and there, I don't want to box myself into that. I really want to master as much as I can, so that I can be as flexible as a cameraperson/director as possible -- all so that I can be ready for whatever the scene needs.
I just think back to the crazy confrontation scene in the second beat of the Saturday Chicago/Detroit Neutrino Project show at PIF 2006 (I got to sit-in with Neutrino Project for PIF!). In our series of scenes, it just started off with me and Clif as good, but somewhat embattled friends. In the second beat, we encounter Josh, a construction worker, who provides us with some static. There was an amazing action sequence that was shot! Well, it wasn't crazy amazing in the same way that a Jackie Chan or John Woo action sequence is, but there was this fight (including a crazy thrown bottle of water that practically explodes!) that felt amazing. I'm sure that Starcevich, who I'm pretty sure was our shooter, was able to make magic of it, since he's pretty awesome. (I got to sit-in on Chicago/Seattle Neutrino Project during PIF 2005, and Star shot the segment I was in.)
I say "felt amazing" and "pretty sure" in the last few sentences because other than the last scene or two of that Saturday night of PIF 2006 Neutrino, I haven't seen all of that particular show (though, I think Fuzzy has it online). That's another thing that's kind of funny, weird (in a good way), and awesome (all rolled up into one!) about Neutrino: You don't get to see much of it when you're a part of it. While improvisation on stage is, to a certain degree, flying blind with all of the thrills and great things that come out of that interesting mix of intent, creation, openness to whatever comes, trust, and discovery, Neutrino Project adds a new layer to sense of flying blind. Wow.
(My mind kind of ran off into a field of daisies and dandelions - all of that was to basically say that I think as we get more experienced, learn to trick things out, and get some Neutrino mileage under our belts, I think Bret totally has the potential to get those crazy, action-filled scenes on tape.)
I've noticed that Jon, in his shooting, is really great at capturing small, but really interesting and ultimately meaty and meaningful moments from his actors, and his cuts. As an improvisor, Jon has a really great sense of timing, so for him, as a director, to be able to exploit (for lack of a better word) those juicy moments that others might blow past makes some kind of sense to me. Also, Jon has a pretty extensive background in post-production, editing, and all of that good stuff. I think he has a degree from NAU related to such studies. I don't remember exactly, though.
So what are my strengths?
I have no idea yet. Also, I'm a big fan of waiting to let other people and outside eyes chime in.
Last night, I had a blast!
I got to play a lot with cutting to different shots, which I hadn't done too much of previously.
As for what's playing my head, The Cure's "Close to Me." It's
---
So, yeah.
A few spots of commentary ...
I still don't yet know where my areas of strength are in regards to shooting for PNP, but I know that I have been working on not simply throwing actors up against a wall boringly. I think I've done pretty decent at that.
In addition to telling whoever's in my shooting group that they need to be prepared to run like hell, I also tell them to do pretty much they want, especially in terms of moving around and making me work, because I'll find a way to keep up.
I definitely do need to play around more with different cuts, and creating rhythms and the like.
One of my favorite shows to shoot was the Paper Heart benefit in November. It was during the day, so there were no issues with finding good light. The manic pace of how things went down were perfect!
Everyone was firing on all cylinders it seemed, and our group was particularly superfun to shoot. Man, just thinking about it -- I really want to recount it all. I really don't have time for that.
While shooting our (Shane, Jenn, and Michelle - acting; Tommy Schaeffer - runner) first scene, Mack made a cameo appearance and started leaving with his car. It was the very car around which we were shooting, so we basically brought him into our scene. We ended up tossing Michelle in his car with him, while Shane and Jenn went off on their date.
Our second scene was shot at the VFW hall next to the Paper Heart. We had our sweethearts butter up the VFW folks earlier in the day, and got permission to shoot in their dining hall, which was awesome. It came complete with old, crusty beans in a serving pan from much earlier in the day.
During that second scene, Jenn and Shane are on a date, and Jenn pulls a great move by feeding Shane a spoonful of beans in that girlfriend kind of way. It was extra hilarious (unbeknownst to the viewers) because before we shot that scene Jenn and Shane were talking about how disgusting the bowl of beans that I had them serve themselves was. Shane, within the scene (because the scene is not about eating beans at all), retaliates by loading up a spoon full of beans and feeding it to Jenn.
At some point, Michelle and Mack barge in, and Michelle confronts shane by slamming down a bowl of beans, which sends some bean splatterings flying. Also, someone -- Mack, I think -- starts eating cornbread, and spits it out at Shane and Jenn. It was pretty awesome.
Our third scene, we split to shoot at the Westward Ho hotel (and now a kind of retirement home), and that went fantastic.
I got to shoot the final wrap-up scene, and that was a total blast and involved a lot of a rocking RV. It was probably the most fun I've had shooting a final scene, and I think it may have been one of my best efforts in terms of wrapping things up. Unfortunately, the audience never got to see it. Somehow, things got jumbled and the show was sent straight to credits without that last wrap-up scene. It was pretty painful to not get to see how it looked.
After a billion years of waiting, though, that daytime show (hopefully with that final scene intact) should see light of day on the PNP website (you can actually catch video of most of our shows there in the "gallery" section). At Galapagos rehearsal, Mark mentioned that they finally got a hold of the tape and that uploading it had been tricky.
Anyway, there's a PNP show this weekend. If you open up a Phoenix New Times and the College Times, there are some write-ups for this weekend's show. I'd post some links, but I'm really short on time. Also, the Phoenix New Times write-up online doesn't have a direct link, and the College Times' website is all out of sorts right now.
---
Oh yeah!
The Cure's "Close to Me" is just fantastic - that's all you need to know!
---
Despite their shaky labor practices and trying not to give in to conspicuous consumption and all of that crap, I'm still a sucker for Nike.
Here's a link to a behind the scenes look at some new commercial that they're doing (I likes):
http://videos.onsmash.com/v/dHG3YGD2di8B
---
Quickly!
I finally picked up Jay-Z's Kingdom Come.
I don't know, man.
He comes out of the gates, for roughly the first third, pretty hard.
Then, between some pretty subpar (especially considering Jay-Z's ears for beats) instrumentals, that dumb breathy voice thing he's been doing, and the "getting my grown man on"/cruise ship rap thing, Jay-Z kind of fumbles.
Everyone's already mentioned it, but it's pretty true. Just as Jay-Z has come into the habit of referring to himself as the Michael Jordan of rap with respect to his successes and dominance, he's also shown a little bit of the rust and creaky knees that MJ had to shake off during his post-retirement comebacks.
"Lost One," despite its semi-somber/reflective twinge, is petty badass. The way he flips the Beyoncé verse is ridiculous.
Also:
Story of a champion---
Sorry, I'm a champion
Comments {0}