The new microphones are on their way.
A studio microphone for looping, a new shotgun microphone more suited to film production, and a clip-on lavalier microphone for good measure.
With the equipment on the way and the character synopses put together, pre-production is hopefully going to finish up very soon. Just got to take care of that pesky casting, and maybe a couple storyboards.
I want you to know, that I am happy for you
I wish nothing but the best for you both
An older version of me
Is she perverted like me?
Would she go down on you in a theater?
Does she speak eloquently
And would she have your baby?
I’m sure she’d make a really excellent mother
‘Cause the love that you gave that we made
Wasn’t able to make it enough for you
To be open wide, No
And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me
You’d hold me until you died
Till you died, but you’re still alive
And I’m here, to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It’s not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know
You seem very well, things look peaceful
I’m not quite as well, I thought you should know
Did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity?
I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner
It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?
Ohh… aah… ahh… ahh…
‘Cause the joke that you laid in the bed
That was me and I’m not gonna fade
As soon as you close your eyes, and you know it
And every time I scratch my nails
Down someone else’s back I hope you feel it
Well, can you feel it?
You Oughta Know
Alanis Morisette
Jagged Little Pill
Well, our internet is down at the luxurious Guru Productions beachside offices. Again.
I’m posting this from a Borders.
I had more to say, but it’s all gone now, washed away in a sea of cappuccino.
Stay tuned!
I had a bad postal services day.
It all started a few months ago. A friend and I promised another friend that we’d mail him a microphone for his camera, one that we had seen for sale at Best Buy. Turns out, that microphone was no longer available. To make a long story short, we could never find a suitable replacement microphone in the same price range.
So, I decided to part with my lovely Azden SGM-2X, a microphone both near and dear to my heart.
Today, I wrapped it and its’ associated accessories up in bubble paper, placed them into a box, and took them to the local Kinkos for mailing. Understand now, this package is bound for the United Kingdom, so I am already aware that I’m going to be paying a most unholy and indeed, quite unnecessary price.
When I arrived at Kinkos, the box was open and unsealed. I made my way to a small desk island in the center of the room, with packing supplies hanging from an end cap. My eyes darted quickly over the selection, and finally settled on a small roll of 3M Clear Packing Tape. Bingo.
I took it off of the rack and began the arduous process of sealing the box. A good five minutes went by before I felt that I’d sufficiently protected my precious microphone from the ravages of shipment. I got back in the line.
Oh, what the hell. Let’s call it a queue.
After “queueing” for another five minutes, I reached the counter. The gentleman looked at my package, then up at me.
“You shipping that?”
Hmm. “Yes,” I replied.
“You need to fill out the paperwork. It’s over there on that end thing. Right there. See it?”
I did indeed see it. I meandered back to where I’d been sealing the package, and, after a moment, plucked a hefty “International Airbill” from the rack. Terrific.
A few more minutes of my life waste by as I reach the section where I must report the value and contents of the box. Souvenirs, twenty-five dollars worth. This is Florida, we do that here. Y’know. We ship souvenirs to our friends in the UK, via FedEx Priority Mail.
After filling out the form, I queued back up and waited.
Upon reaching the counter, the gentleman looked at the box, and looked at my International Airbill.
“Shipping is over at that counter.”
Argh.
I got out of my queue, and got into the other one. Finally, I reached the shipping counter. The woman stares bleakly at the airbill, then finally, has to ask the question that’s burning deeply in her loins.
“What country is this?”
“Scotland?”, I fire back, confused.
“Scotland isn’t listed here,” she retorts, as if she’s got a B.S. in Geography.
“Try the United Kingdom.”
“Oh, there it is.” I’ll assume that the stresses of the job are getting to her, and let this one slide.
A few moments pass while she clacks away at the computer. I’m rapidly losing my patience. I contemplate not paying for the tape I used to seal the box. The dispenser looms large on the kiosk several feet away.
“What’s in this box? Twenty-five dollar value?”
“Souvenirs,” I reply nervously.
“Right. Well, I need you to fill out this separate manifest.” She produces a piece of paper that seems to contain very similar information to the one I’ve already filled out. In my head, I wonder exactly why she can’t just fill this one out herself.
I take the paper and move to a different counter to begin filling it out. Before I can strike the pen to the page, she speaks again. “It’s going to be a hundred and ten dollars.”
I freeze. “What?”
“Yeah, it’s over a hundred dollars. That’s the only option it’s giving me.”
“Well, keep working on that.”
“That’s how much it costs.”
“Well, I’m trying to figure out why I would pay this much to ship it, when I could take it to the U.S. Post Office and pay twelve dollars.”
“I usually always do my overseas shipping through the post office.”
She’s gone and bamboozled me at this point. I pick up my box, and thank her for her time, curtly. I stroll past the kiosk on the way out, and think to myself, at least I stole that tape.
Closed window pane
I stare out all day
This room and the walls
We wait for the call
And slow like decay
This progress we’ve made
Could you…
Get to the point, get it across
To the boys at the top of the ladder I’m climbing up
I,I have my doubts
This is a call from my cage
through the bars
Inspired by the dollar sign that’s dangling outside
Someone…
Get to the point, get it across
To the boys at the top of the ladder
I’m climbing up
I,I have my doubts
my doubts
my doubts
my doubts!
Go on and get it right
Get it right
okay
Just stay, just stay the same way
Do it like you did it before
okay
remain, remain the same shape
Lord help me now
Get to the point, get it across
To the boys at the top of the ladder I’m climbing up
I,I have my doubts
Inspired By the $
The Starting Line
Based On a True Story
I finally decided to check out the freshman effort of My Chemical Romance, the lengthily-titled “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love“. It’s less produced then their newer album, and the songs don’t have the same “kick”, but I enjoy it.
The new System of a Down album, “Hypnotize“, is not disappointing in any way. I enjoy this one much more than Mezmerize. Fans of SOAD should definitely pick this album up without hesitation.
A release from Spring of this year, Anna Nalick’s “Wreck of the Day” is a nice touch of the softer side. The sound and lyrical content will work out well for fans of Tori Amos or Fiona Apple. If you’re into that sort of sound, I recommend checking out this album. You’ve probably already heard the single from this one, “Breathe”, on the radio about six thousand times. The title track, Wreck of the Day, is worth a listen also, as well as “Catalyst” and “In the Rough”, which has a more rock-ish quality to it.
After adding the Anna Nalick album to my cart, iTunes recommended that I purchase nothing but Tori Amos albums. I compromised with it by picking up her cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit“, which I whole heartedly recommend to everybody. While I laughed my ass off at it upon the first listen, when I went back and listened again, I actually got pretty attached to it. They play this cover on The Buzz sometimes, and I had always wondered who did it. Great track. Incidentally, if you love Tori Amos, iTunes has an Artist Essentials put together for her.
We’ve started the wheels turning on the casting process for the female lead in The Last Regret. A few people have been contacted so far, and I hope to get a couple few more. The general hope is to get at least 4-5 people to audition for the part, but if we can get more, that’ll be even better. I’ll have people read this part until the end of time if I can.
I hate casting. Fuck.
On to audio. We secured a mixer today, and another set of monitor headphones. The hope is to mix on-body microphones with boom microphones, as opposed to capturing everything solely on the boom microphone. We’re taking it up a notch, people.
Oh lord.
We are building a religion,
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors and adding more lanes
We are building a religion.
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers for these pendant keychains
To resist it is useless,
It is useless to resist it
His cigerratte is burning but it never seems to ash
He is grooming his poodle
He is living comfort eagle
You can meet at his location but you’d better come with cash
Now his hat is on backwards. He can show you his tattoos
He is in the music buisness he is calling you “DUDE!”
Now today is tomorrow and tomorrow’s today
And yesterday is weaving in and out
And the fluffy white lines that the airplane leaves behind
Are drifting right in front of the waning of the moon
He is handling the money. He’s serving the food
He knows about your party. He is calling you “DUDE!”
Now, do you believe in the one big sign?
The double wide shine on the boot hills of your prime
Doesn’t matter if you’re skinny. Doesn’t matter if you’re fat.
You can dress up like a sultan in your onion-head hat
We are bulding a religion. We are making a brand
We’re the only ones to turn to when your castles turn to sand
Take a bit of this apple, Mr. Corporate Events
Take a walk through the jungle of cardboard shedies and tents
Some people drink pepsi. Some people drink coke. (coke)
The wacky morning d.j. says democracy’s a joke.
He says now, “Do you believe in the one big song?”
He’s now accepting callers who would like to sing along
He says, “Do you believe in the one true edge?”
By fastening your saftey belts and stepping towards the ledge
He is handling the money. He is serving the food.
He is now accepting callers. He is calling me “DUDE!”
Do you believe in the one big sign?
The double wide shine on the boot hills of your prime.
There’s no need to ask directions if you ever lose your mind
We’re behind you. We’re behind you.
And let us please remind you
We can send a car to find you
If you ever lose your way
We are bulding a religion…
We are bulding it bigger…
We are building…………… a religion…….
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers for these beautiful pendant keychains
Comfort Eagle
Cake
Comfort Eagle
Most video is shot at 60 interlaced frames per second.
It looks terrible. I hate that look. Nothing I shoot will be presented in that form ever again. (Well, not narrative film, anyway. The video look has its place.)
We’ll be shooting The Last Regret on a Panasonic DVX100A. It records in NTSC DV, which is 60 interlaced frames per second. However, it can shoot in 24p 2:3:3:2 Advanced, which is a way of storing 24 frames per second data on DV. It takes some additional post-processing work, and the tapes can’t be played back straight to a monitor without first converting the footage, but it allows you to perform the edit directly in 24p without any further hassle.
I hate spending money.
I pretend to love it, but secretly, I really, really don’t.
This shopping, though, is necessary. It’s all the equipment and props needed for our next short, The Last Regret.
Pre-production on this short is taking forever. It was supposed to be done already. Not pre-production, the entire short. Between moving to Ft. Lauderdale, running from Hurricane Wilma and, let’s say, “waiting for funds to be available”, it’s taking a lot longer than it should be.
As a nice glimpse into some of the pre-production work for this short, here’s my shopping list.
Looking over the list, I suppose I’m going to need to budget myself. The props themselves shouldn’t be more than $100. The tapes will be $30. The microphone is around $600, the shock mount is another $50 and the wind cut is $50-100. Let’s lock the budget at $1200, give everybody points and no money on the front end, and that leaves us with enough money to shoot for 2-3 days while being able to feed the cast and crew.
We talked about shopping. I’m on a roll, here. Let’s go into the whole pre-production smatter.
Locations.
Location scouting is a real pain in the ass. Once you’ve done it a couple times, your brain is permanently fixed in that mode. Everywhere you go becomes a potential location for a shot. As far as this script goes, I know a couple places in Ft. Lauderdale that will be great. Locations aren’t a big deal.
Permits. In a city like this, you need a permit to film. You don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting thrown off of your location. I’ve already got the number to call to secure a filming permit. It also adds an aire of legitimacy to your production — the city publishes a list of productions that are permitted to shoot, the locations they are allowed in, and the length of time they are permitted to shoot for. Any would-be cast or crew that are suspect of your project can see that you have secured the proper permits.
On to camera mountings and equipment.
There’s a dolly shot in this. We need a dolly, a dolly operator, and a grip who can wrangle the equipment. We’ve got a hook-up for all of that, though, so it’s no big deal. As far as tripods go, we need a bigger and more sturdy one. That’s not in the budget. If we can’t borrow or steal one, that won’t happen.
Lighting. Ugh. I don’t want to talk about lighting right now.
Casting is going to take place soon. All of this needs to be ready to go by the time we finish casting, or at least planned somewhat, so a no-shit schedule can be given to whoever gets cast.
What a bitch.