CenterSeat Entertainment, which is the company I run with my business partner Safaa Sammander, is currently in production with an original Chris DeMarco music video based on his song "I'm Calling You." Now I may not be a fan of the genre of music that he plays but that doesn't stop me from taking money from a potential client. Point of fact is that since this is really Safaa's "baby" as producer I have very little to do in terms of producing on this production as my talents are currently split between the Cesar Aguirre short film, the Ondie Daniel/Keith Kelly short film "A Gift," and the just completed Movie Night Event #2 screening of the Southlan-Films production BAD LAND (which I also co-produced and assisted directed on), so my plat has been pretty full as late.
On this production I've stepped back mainly to play as techical co-director & producer helping out where ever Safaa needs, so, truth to the point I have yet to actually sit down and listen to the song or read the script or just about anything else that isn't "technical" that Safaa needs from me. Since this is a paying client (unlike all the other projects thus far mentioned) this one takes precident over everything else because it has the greatest potential to be able to go somewhere else whether it leads to more projects with DeMarco or be it other music videos. It will be a calling card for our company that will aid in the advertsiement of our company in the same way that the Movie Night Events are advertising The SWIFF festival in October.
I also play an important role on the production as the lighting designer/director of photography and second camerman (as I've let Vernon Mui be the first cameraman). We had our first production shoot two Sundays ago which for the most part went well regardless of the slight chaos of trying to film a lot of footage in such a short amount of time. We were limited to the amount of daylight hours we had to film in the morning and we were limited to the hours of the bar TROIS in which we were filming.
Safaa had some clear ideas about what she wanted to see in the video but due to some of the constraints of the location we were very limited and I couldn't set up some of the shots like I would have liked simply because of our time limitations to the location. This has forced Safaa into a difficult situation - 1)whether to use the footage filmed and make the best of it or 2)reshoot the end of the film in the manner in which it was suppose to be filmed in order to get the mood and tone of the production desired.
So far Safaa and I have discussed all the possibilities and she is adament about reshooting some of the sequences, so that seems to be the next step in this production. I won't agree with her 100% on everything she is trying to do but the ending of the film (in the bar) I do believe needs to be refilmed. She believes it should be at night but the scene can easily be rewritten and refilmed to make it a "Day" scene so we don't run into the conflicts with finding a space to film in at night.
Regardless of what Safaa ultimately chooses I will support her decission and try to accomodate her as best I can to the best of my abilities. Right now I'm trying to get Theatre in the Square to allow us to use their facility at night since we cannot get TROIS to allow us to film there.
I hope everything goes well in that I can do some creative things in the lobby of the theatre to bring out the "colour" of the space. Meanwhile we have the stage and apartment sequence to film this Thursday so wish us smooth sailing from here on out.
CITY GARDEN - "The Old Woman & The Park"
On the set of the short film "A Gift"
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Eye Glasses are For Those Who Can't See
I just picked up my first pair of eye glasses yeaterday
I originally went into the eye specialist because my insurrance covered it and I hadn't had an eye examin since high school (or maybe it was middle school) so I said, "What the hell." I made the appointment and the next day I went.
The particulars of eye examins and such has come a long way since my young days as everything was done by machines and was very quick. In fact, I spent more time filling out paperwork then I did on everything that was done to me (with the exception of picking out new glasses). They also did this new thing which is an OptoMap which maps the inside of the eye and can help find early signs of diabeties or glicoma, or a plethera of other diseases. Since the primary reason I went to the eye specialist was to determine if my eyes have anything to do with my migranes, I had this done. It was an extra $39.00 that wasn't covered by insurrance but I was sure it would be worth it.
It totally was!
I have to admit it was really "cool" (can I still say that?) to see the inside of my eye. As the doctor was doing the actual test it was like he took a small pin light to the eye in order to get the 180 degree picture. And when I viewed it on the screen I was in total awe. Technology is so...WOW!
And the thing is that there was nothing wrong with my eyes (thank the heavens) other than my eye sight itself which was anything but 20-20 (which, by the way very few people actually have). The thing is that I could have continued to gone through the rest of my life with mediocre eye sight never realizing that it could be so much better. I learned from the doctors that I have a weak left eye and that even though it isn't great my right eye does well but is compensating for the weak left eye. Now the doctor told me that this could be a cause of minor headaches but was probably not the cause of my migranes.
I decided to get the glasses anyway. My insurrance is pretty good in this regards and it's better to have the glasses then to not have them, so I picked up a pair of Scott & Harris brand. I hate to admit this but they actually do make a HUGE difference. If I hadn't gotten the glasses then I wouldn't be missing anything that I didn't know about but having them have definitely changed my outlook in regards to my vision and I'm very happy.
I originally went into the eye specialist because my insurrance covered it and I hadn't had an eye examin since high school (or maybe it was middle school) so I said, "What the hell." I made the appointment and the next day I went.
The particulars of eye examins and such has come a long way since my young days as everything was done by machines and was very quick. In fact, I spent more time filling out paperwork then I did on everything that was done to me (with the exception of picking out new glasses). They also did this new thing which is an OptoMap which maps the inside of the eye and can help find early signs of diabeties or glicoma, or a plethera of other diseases. Since the primary reason I went to the eye specialist was to determine if my eyes have anything to do with my migranes, I had this done. It was an extra $39.00 that wasn't covered by insurrance but I was sure it would be worth it.
It totally was!
I have to admit it was really "cool" (can I still say that?) to see the inside of my eye. As the doctor was doing the actual test it was like he took a small pin light to the eye in order to get the 180 degree picture. And when I viewed it on the screen I was in total awe. Technology is so...WOW!
And the thing is that there was nothing wrong with my eyes (thank the heavens) other than my eye sight itself which was anything but 20-20 (which, by the way very few people actually have). The thing is that I could have continued to gone through the rest of my life with mediocre eye sight never realizing that it could be so much better. I learned from the doctors that I have a weak left eye and that even though it isn't great my right eye does well but is compensating for the weak left eye. Now the doctor told me that this could be a cause of minor headaches but was probably not the cause of my migranes.
I decided to get the glasses anyway. My insurrance is pretty good in this regards and it's better to have the glasses then to not have them, so I picked up a pair of Scott & Harris brand. I hate to admit this but they actually do make a HUGE difference. If I hadn't gotten the glasses then I wouldn't be missing anything that I didn't know about but having them have definitely changed my outlook in regards to my vision and I'm very happy.
Friday, April 4, 2008
"Broken Set Pieces"
HAd to let my crew run last Tuesday's shoot day on the short film production of "A Gift." Prinicipal photography did not go as planned and we didn't get all the footage filmed on the one day and two night event, so we ended up adding two nights to the production hoping we could finish it prior to all the kids going on Spring Break. Neither night I was going to be available for so I let my cinematographer and sound man do it for me.
The first night on the shoot be themselves they did a good job. I've finally witnessed the "dailies" and even though I disagree with their lighting choices I can't complain too much since I wasn't there to guide them. The second night, which is the night in question, even though they finished about 85% of the scenes needed to complete the film, they had several problems; only one of those problems will be discussed here today.
The following morning - Wednesday, after the filming was complete I got the call from the cinematographer exclaiming that the boom pole was split into thirds. Now when you get a call like this so early in the morning you can't help but have a small smile in your face confirming what you had been dreading along along. That inner voice was telling me...no, screaming at me, "I told you so." It laughed these words in the back of my mind and somehow I knew it was true.
"I told you not to let them do it by themselves," it said. That pesky little voice in the back of my head that would warn me of something like this time and time again. If the boom pole and shock mount had been mine I wouldn't worry too much of it but it belongs to one of my very good friends. One that trusts me with her equipment and now I have to tell her that I broke her boom pole and shock mount and that I would be replacing it with a newer one.
I don't mind replacing it as it is my responsibility regardless of how and why it happened (which I've now decided I will not go into detail here, at least not yet) but what I don't want to happen is this hurting our relationship and my ability to continue using her equipment.
What this has told me is that I can't leave my crew alone without being supervised by my partner or myself because an event like this can not be repeated in the future.
I don't ponder on it too much as it's now become water under the bridge as I think upon more important things like the film festival and my filming of SHIVER this summer and the music video shoot and....
The first night on the shoot be themselves they did a good job. I've finally witnessed the "dailies" and even though I disagree with their lighting choices I can't complain too much since I wasn't there to guide them. The second night, which is the night in question, even though they finished about 85% of the scenes needed to complete the film, they had several problems; only one of those problems will be discussed here today.
The following morning - Wednesday, after the filming was complete I got the call from the cinematographer exclaiming that the boom pole was split into thirds. Now when you get a call like this so early in the morning you can't help but have a small smile in your face confirming what you had been dreading along along. That inner voice was telling me...no, screaming at me, "I told you so." It laughed these words in the back of my mind and somehow I knew it was true.
"I told you not to let them do it by themselves," it said. That pesky little voice in the back of my head that would warn me of something like this time and time again. If the boom pole and shock mount had been mine I wouldn't worry too much of it but it belongs to one of my very good friends. One that trusts me with her equipment and now I have to tell her that I broke her boom pole and shock mount and that I would be replacing it with a newer one.
I don't mind replacing it as it is my responsibility regardless of how and why it happened (which I've now decided I will not go into detail here, at least not yet) but what I don't want to happen is this hurting our relationship and my ability to continue using her equipment.
What this has told me is that I can't leave my crew alone without being supervised by my partner or myself because an event like this can not be repeated in the future.
I don't ponder on it too much as it's now become water under the bridge as I think upon more important things like the film festival and my filming of SHIVER this summer and the music video shoot and....
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