howdy friends,

hope the new year is off to a smashing start for you. I’m on the tail end of a work trip that took me from Pheonix to New Orleans. I was hoping we’d end up somewhere colder, but hey I can’t complain about going to New Orleans. I really love LOVE this city and have gotten to eat some amazing food.

here’s my “edit suite” in the Big Easy….

it’s time for my yearly “Top 10.” in case you’re new to my blog, I like to do a random sort of collection for a top 10. there will be music, projects, food, films, travel, and so on…here’s 2010 and 2009. in this list there will be a LOT of links, including many to past blogs where I go more in depth…so feel free to click through for longer stories and more pictures.

honorable mention: SHERLOCK
my good friend Micah recommended this BBC mini-series to me and it sat in my netflix queue for FAR too long. when I finally got around to watching it I was astounded. I love everything about it; the music, the way it was shot, the pacing, the cast, the story, the acting, the and marvelous modernization of the story.

if you have netflix, you MUST watch it. here’s a little taste – the first meeting between Sherlock & Dr. Watson.

10.) Apache – Milky Way
I really don’t watch a lot of music videos anymore, but this one has stuck in my head all year. there’s something really amazing about it’s simplicity and playfulness…yet it goes deeper than that. I get goosebumps when I watch it. and for some reason, it makes me think of traveling east to live in NYC.

Apache from oneedo on Vimeo.

9.) Continuing the Lunch Tradition
after going freelance one of things I missed the most were my lunches with my fellow editor Bruce and our client Davis. it’s a little harder for us to schedule now, but we’ve kept meeting up for lunches. one of our favorites has been Sri Siam in North Hollywood. they have a crispy rice salad that is spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. it’s soft, crunchy, and fresh. probably one of the most amazing dishes I’ve ever had.

8.) DRIVE
this was THE movie of the year. much like INCEPTION last year – it was the film that everyone in my peer group was obsessed with. we talked about it, we listened to the soundtrack, we visited the locations…and I often found myself driving around with a toothpick.

take a look at this amazing opening scene here.

(side note: the location where he pulls behind the truck and turns off his lights is in my Sing It Loud video.)

7.) Wood & Vine
I’ve never really had a local spot until this place…it quickly became my “Cheers.” (you know, everyone knows my name.) great food, delicious drinks, and an amazing staff. I really love hanging out there.

6.) Snowboarding in June
the winter of 2010/11 was a great one. I had SO many good days on the hill…at least by weekend-warrior status. one of the most memorable was from a June trip to Mammoth Mountain. I was expecting warm sunny days – t-shirt weather, but instead we got fresh snow. it was really remarkable.

5.) Film Critic HULK
earlier this year I read a tweet from @mrbeaks about how everyone should read this essay about editing action movies. since I’m interested in editing & action movies started in on the essay. little did I know that it would be 120 pages of ALL CAPS HULK SPEAK.

for example:

SO WHAT MAKES ACTION WORK?

THE BEST PHRASE TO NARROW IT DOWN = AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION.

THE AUDIENCE DOES NOT SIMPLY “WATCH” ACTION. EVERY SINGLE BEAT SHOULD IDEALLY WORK AS A 4 PART PROCESS: AN AUDIENCE MUST FIRST ANTICIPATE THE ACTION, THEN THE AUDIENCE MUST UNDERSTAND THE ACTION (WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SEEING), THEN THE AUDIENCE MUST FEEL THE ACTION, AND ULTIMATELY REACT TO THE ACTION. AND WHEN YOU DO THAT? THE ACTION BEAT WILL WORK LIKE FREAKIN’ GANGBUSTERS.(1)

that’s correct, the author writes in the voice of the Marvel character The Hulk. and quite simply, Hulk’s writings have had a profound effect on my creative process. they were extremely instrumental as I wrote a new screenplay at the end of the year…

if you like film and care about making better stories, you NEED to read Hulk’s work. anycrap, don’t just take my word for it, find out for yourself here.

4.) Trips Home & Carpentry
another advantage of freelance is the ability to go home more often and for longer. I spent more time in WA this year than…well probably since I first moved to LA. it was great getting to spend more time with my family and help with their remodel. I also got to spend more time with my Grandparents.

this was my reward after spending a day painting their deck in the hot summer sun.

keeping with the whole manual labor thing, I went to our place in Sheep Ranch and did some work on the house there. it was the largest project I’ve undertaken absent my Dad or Grandpa… and while I was working on it I also started a new screenplay. more about that trip here.

3.) Writing a Screenplay
with each screenplay that I write I feel like I learn so much. each time it becomes a little less of a mystery. or maybe I just realize how much of a mystery the last one was? heh. at any rate, this year was the first time I was able to REALLY focus and write something. all my other writing been done after work, on the weekends, etc. this time I was able to focus soley writing. aside from the aforementioned carpentry, all I did was work on NIGHT HAUL. I didn’t know what it would be like writing for 4+ hours a day when I was used to just writing for about 1. would I be able to maintain creativity & focus for that long each day? I have to say, I was beyond stoked to find out that I could. I wrote the first draft, 117 pages in 15 days.

2.) touring with CERTIFIED
last year was all about making the film, this year was about getting it out there. I was very fortunate to get to travel all around with it. this past year I went to Atlanta (GE), Bend (OR), Eerie (PA), Big Bear Lake (CA), as well as a few festivals and screenings in the Los Angeles area. the most incredible place I travelled was definitely Cannes, France. what an amazing experience that was. it was so busy, so glamorous, and gave me so much to strive for. aside from the film stuff, I became better friends with the cinematographer of CERTIFIED, John Matysiak. and I got the chance to visit my cousins.

1.) Visiting My French Relatives
my Corsican relatives moved to the United States in the early 1900′s. and thankfully, they kept in touch with the “old world.” when our family went to Europe in 1999 we were able to meet some of the relatives who still lived in Corsica. since then my Dad has been writing letters and emailing with several other relatives who live on the mainland of France. one such family lives just outside of Montpellier in the South of France. well, I was going to be going to the South of France. it seemed silly to travel halfway around the world and then not go the last 300km to visit them.

I am SO glad we did. it’s almost hard to put into words how welcoming the Casanovas were to us. we aren’t the closest relations, but they treated us like we were as close of family as you could be. it was amazing. I was reminded what it truly meant to be “welcomed with open arms.” here I was with people that I’d never met, in a different country, that had a separate life – but yet we were FAMILY. that made the world feel a little smaller. it made me feel connected to something larger than my own day-to-day existence and that my friends was really awesome.

hey friends,

this week I thought I’d take a moment and talk a little bit about what I’ve been doing that is NOT all about CERTIFIED. because believe it or not, I have been doing some other things.

as you may recall, earlier this year I left my staff editing position at a post facility. since then I’ve been doing freelance editorial for a number of different people and companies. it has been a few years since I was a regular freelancer and it’s taken a bit of time time to remember what it’s like. and what is it like you may ask?

well, it’s a LOT of emailing, meeting up for coffee, talking on the phone, and more emailing. it’s a lot of gently reminding people that you are available for work…and then reminding them that they still need to pay you. these aren’t even factors when you have a steady gig and they occupy a lot of the day.

but when you work from home, you can take a nap after lunch. so there’s that.

so in an effort to keep the lights on at YETIESQUE, delicious noms in my belly, and travel to festivals w/ my film I have worked on: a 3D TV entertainment news show, a brand video, a bat mitzvah video, a documentary trailer, a short film, and a reality TV news video blog. there’s a chance I’ll be working on a music video in the next week or so.

here’s the trailer I edited:

of course, the “day job” is really only 1/2 the picture. the other part is the creative work I’ve been doing. this has mostly been writing. lots and lots of writing.

one of the projects I’ve been spending time on is revising a feature length screenplay called SIDE AFFECTS. it is something that I “finished” near the beginning of the year. I use the “scare quotes” because a screenplay is never really finished… but I did complete it to the point where I was okay with sending it to some friends for feedback. after talking with them I made some revisions and set it aside for a bit.

now the script is a part of my Writers’ Group and I’m getting another set of notes and responses. it’s a good process and I feel like the screenplay has already improved a great deal through the process.

the other writing project is a bit more amorphous. I have been working on a series of treatments for other feature film writing projects. a screenplay is a LOT of work and before I embark on the next one, I’d like to have some guidance as to what I write.

this is where the treatments come in. (a treatment can be anything from a paragraph synopsis like you’d read in a movie review – to a full on prose version of the proposed story.) as I was traveling over the summer I brained stormed about fifty potential ideas. these were as long as a paragraph to as short as a sentence or two.

after I weeded out the obviously really bad ones I took the list to Kimberley. She and I went over the list and selected our favorite dozen or so. with this list of selects I went back to my writing cave. over the next couple of weeks I day dreamed, brainstormed, and let the ideas float around in my subconscious. then I took those and expanded them each to a half page.

I really enjoy the creative process and being able to “dream of potential.” this part of the process doesn’t require a lot of formula or structure, it’s really all about the story, and characters, and ideas. I’ve been free to let my mind wander as I work this ideas out. and it’s been cool to see where the stories have gone. some of the ideas have progressed like I’d have expected, others have gone in entirely new places. these are the “beautiful accidents” that the panelists spoke about in SDCC Comic Con blog. and finding them has a been a lot of fun for me.

the next step will be to take these expanded treatments – narrow the list down further and expand the select-selects even more.

ok, that’s it for now. the emails are starting to pile up again.

and since it’s only a mostly non CERTIFIED blog… here’s a little interview I did at Shriekfest.

enjoy!

-Luke

greetings fellow riders of the great intertubez!

happy Friday! it’s been a good week here in Los Angeles. Shriekfest has started! I’m excited to see some horror & sci-fi films and meet a bunch of other genre filmmakers. CERTIFIED screens Sunday at 2pm. details here.

a year or so ago the trailer of THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE had just been released. I had a very special guest blog written by the one and only The Real Luke. he details the Hollywood Adventure that led him to California to make his first epic, feature length motion picture. here is the trailer to refresh your memory:

when we were on set, we ended up shooting a LOT of extra material. specifically in the desert scene. I had the project pretty well story boarded and knew what shots were needed to make the trailer. but we were running ahead of schedule and our Director of Photography, John Matysiak had some ideas for additional shots… so we shot a bunch of material that didn’t make it into the cut.

while editing I realized that there was enough footage to make an entire OTHER project. but there were a few slight issues. we were missing a number of “connecting” shots. after all, we weren’t trying to make a cohesive scene – we were trying to make a trailer. we had a bunch of cool action, but the moments weren’t really tied together.

in order to show a story that made sense, we’d need to film these “connecting” shots. having reshoots wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, since I was the actor, owned all the props, and the locations were “free”…but there was a BIG problem.

I had shaved my beard.

so… how would we do it?

did I need to spend a few months regrowing my beard?
should we only shoot me from the back?
what were the simplest possible shots w/o showing my face that we could use?

together w/ my intern Kevin Allen-Bicknell we laid out the shots we had in the best possible order. then discussed what was missing story wise and how we could tell that story with INSERT shots.

we went outside the yetiesque offices and shot those inserts on my Canon Powershot. then cut them into the sequence with the HD material. it wasn’t pretty, but it did let us see if the story made sense. and it did. next we needed to film those insert in HD. so on one of the scouting days for CERTIFIED I brought my Mackinaw, camo, and hatchet to set. John and I walked down the road a bit and quickly filmed the few shots.

they cut in perfectly. our plan had worked!

I wanted to set up the project as a “sneak peak” into the post production of the film, so I added the timecode window burns that normally are found on footage during the editing process. there aren’t filters for these, so they we all made by hand. yes, that means EVERY frame is a different title. (I can talk about what all the numbers mean if anyone is interested…let me know)

here’s the finished project, THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE: JUST DESSERT.

-Luke

hey friends,

last night was the Premiere of the pilot episode of “Updating Paige.”

it was part of the “Web Series Unplugged” series that shows at El Cid. it’s a pretty cool idea to have a venue for these sorts of projects. and to create a place where the people who are making them can come together and interact.

the show went extremely well, we got a LOT of laughs. and not to toot our our horn too much…but we definitely stood out among the crowd.

a fair amount of our cast and crew were there, plus some of my filmmaker friends from other projects. it was really cool to introduce Tony & Carey, the producer and editor of APT. 5 that had NEVER met before.

“Updating Paige” was actually shot quite a while ago…in fact, it was the week after we filmed “Certified.” it was a pretty fun shoot, but a couple of things stick out in my head.

first, it was HOT. really really hot. like record breaking 110+ degree heat. luckily it was a night shoot, but even still…that sort of heat will drain you.

sorry, I don’t have any pictures illustrating “sweaty and tired” but here’s one of me goofing around.

second, the crickets.

we were shooting at night, but the story takes place during the day. this isn’t a huge deal. day-for-night and night-for-day shoots are done all the time. we got a couple shots when we first set up where you could SEE outside while the sun was still up.

these would help reinforce the idea that the story took place during the “day.” the rest of the shoot it would be up to our talented director of photography, Matt Irwin, and his crew to craft the light in such a way that when a person watches the final piece, they would automatically think “day.”

the space was rather large, and because of our budget Matt did not have a ton of lights to work with…but they DID it. sometimes when I’m watching it I forget that we shot a LARGE percentage of the project after midnight. I don’t think anyone would ever pick up on this…and that’s a good thing.

however, there was an issue with sound. a very distinct “nighttime” sound that kept coming around.

namely, crickets.

when you are trying to sell the location “coffee shop during the day” a bunch of noisy, nonstop chirping crickets do NOT assist you in the endeavor.

and the inside of our location didn’t help matters. it had high ceilings, a tin roof, and exposed pipes and duct work that the little buggers would hide behind.

we sent PA’s up on ladders. we had grips clap and stomp their feet. we stopped and waited. heck, we even PRETENDED to call “action” to get them to start.

we’d smash a few, scare a few, and trick a few…but then they’d be back.

finally we just had to say “heck with it” and just keep filming. the crickets weren’t going to leave and at this rate…neither were we.

and some of us had to work in the morning. (myself included)

so we powered through and finally wrapped at about 3:30am. I was able to get a cool 4 ish hours of sleep before heading to work for a 9am session.

but in the end…my amazing sound guy, Steve Romero came through. the crickets are gone. in fact, I DEFY anyone to find any cricket sounds in the final video.

and here’s your chance to try -

-Luke

p.s. there was also a yelling landlord…but that’s another story for another less-digital time.

hey friends,

exciting news – “Updating Paige” is finished! and we have a premiere date scheduled. there will be a screening at “Web Series Unplugged” on Wednesday March 16th at El Cid in Los Angeles. details on the screening series can be found at facebook.com/webseriesunplugged

expect to see it online shortly thereafter! since that’s a month away, I’ve decided to release a film that’s been in my hip pocket for a while.

back when preparing to shoot the Grand Vanity “Got A Nerve” video I realized we were paying to have a camera package all weekend, but the music video shoot was just Saturday. it seemed a shame to not use the gear both days. so, I floated an idea to my producer, Tony Federico – should we try and shoot another project on Sunday? he liked the idea of filming something else, as long as we had a manageable idea. we asked Brett Pawlak, our director of photography and he was down for the challenge as well.

we had the gear, we had the crew, now we just needed a project. I went to my old sketchbooks and poured through them. somewhere there must be an idea that would fit. something that could be done with a skeleton crew, with basically no budget, in less than a day of shooting…

here’s a scan of the original idea. (click on it to see bigger)

over the next few days we worked on getting the idea flushed out and figuring out what locations we wanted to use. but we were still missing an actor.

the day of the Grand Vanity shoot came and we still didn’t have talent. Tony posted an ad on craigslist, then throughout the day he checked the responses and forwarded any promising prospects on to me.

but it wasn’t until the morning of the shoot that we confirmed our actor. Tony gave him a call and he was in. Jerome would be meeting us at our first location, the Huntington Library that afternoon.

just like with the music video, the changing weather had provided us with an amazing backdrop for the shoot.

wait, let me stop for a minute. Huntington Library is a very interesting place. it’s not a “library” in the way your local public library is…and it’s not just a park…or a museum…or a garden. it’s a bit all of those put together. you can look at rare books, see art, wander the gardens, or have high tea there. it’s really an amazing place.

so just outside was this row of ginkgo biloba trees. their leaves were brilliant yellow. the wind would gust and send a shower of them floating down. it was amazing. and we filmed it.

next we ventured into the park. one of the advantages of shooting on a DSLR is that people don’t bother you… for the most part you look like you are shooting “real” pictures. I’m sure eventually people will get savvy to this, but for now there is an incredible amount of access that this format affords.

there is NO WAY we would have been able to afford to permit this location. it’s a non-starter. there was no reason to even consider asking about it.

but, grab a DSLR, have a small crew, don’t spend too much time “directing” your actor…and security guards will walk right by you.

as the sun set we packed up and headed to our next location – Century City. I think it was on one of my long bus rides shortly after moving to Los Angeles that I experienced the strangeness of Century City for the first time. here was a group of large, modern buildings…but at night there was NO ONE around. it was like something out of “Omega Man.” eerie to say the least.

however, when we got to the location we found out someone else was there…namely Michel Gondry and the very large production of “The Green Hornet.” this actually turned out to be quite a boon for us. Sony spared no expense in shining light. three giant sun trucks, each with 15 10K lights bounced light all around the normally darkened streets. and we used it.

here’s one of our takes that was interrupted by a car chase. (how rude!)

it was a very low key and easy going shoot. we didn’t have any set locations, or a script for that matter…but it didn’t really matter. everyone was up for the adventure and we took what came our way and made the most of it.

the post on this project went as smoothly as the production. Carey Williams edited, Jeff McDonoungh did the score, Steve Romero did the sound design, and Bruce Cathcart did some stabilization and color correction.

and here it is… enjoy!

-Luke

greetings and happy new year friends!

hope the holidays have been grand for you all.

I for one am glad to be back in Los Angeles and working away. breaks are nice, but I tend to get a little ansy. a couple quick updates this week:

• “Certified” is really really close to being done. a few tweaks to color, sound, and end credits and we’ll have a finished movie! I’m extremely happy with how it’s turned out and can’t wait to start the festival circuit.

• “Updating Paige” is progressing. we should finish color this weekend or early next week.

• “Side Affects” my neo-noir screenplay is at page 60. I’m two months in and just past the mid-point, so making pretty good progress.

• “Found in 98312″ is starting to take shape… more elements were acquired over the break. and yes, I am being a little vague on purpose =)

I’ll leave you with this…

-Luke

Howdy friends!

About a month ago a representative for Nokia contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in participating in a promotion in conjunction with their new phone and TRON.

They would send me a phone, and I would use it to make a short film inspired by TRON. Then some of the films would screen at a sneak preview of TRON: LEGACY.

It sounded like a fun project, so I agreed. I even passed along the project to a few of my filmmaking friends. (Only one ended up doing it)

It took a bit longer to get the phone than they originally suggested.
We were supposed to have a week to make our films.  We ended up having only 3 days.  
This made things a little challenging for me as I had 2 full days of the day job, plus a day of rehearsal and editing “Updating Paige” already scheduled.

So I had three days in which to make a film…and I was already booked on all three days.

Luckily I anticipated it being a tight deadline and planned for something that could be shot very simply and with a very small crew.

Here’s the rough time table:

Wednesday
2:45pm – phone arrives from UK
8pm – build “rig” to attach camera to tripod

Thursday
Troy (the star) shoots Jack in the Box commercial / Luke outlines script

Friday
6:45am-9:45am – film NOKIA project.

10am-6pm – Luke goes to work, transfers & transcodes footage on laptop while doing day job.
8pm-9pm – log footage

Saturday
10am-11am – rough cut
11am-12pm – Martial Arts rehearsals
12pm-1pm – rough cut continues
2pm-5pm – supervised session with editor of Updating Paige.

6pm-11:59pm – fine cut, vfx

Sunday
12am-2am – vfx, color correction

2am-3am – sound design and mix
3am-3:30am – delivery.

A compressed schedule to say the least.

But let’s get down to brass tacks…

The phone/camera was an interesting device.  After years of using the iPhone it was challenging to work with a less intuitive device. Especially when it didn’t come with much of a manual.  For instance, there is a whole separate button on the phone for the “menu” and the keyboard for typing letters is a “T9″ keyboard.  But it’s a touch screen, so it could just as easily be QWERTY… Maybe that’s an option to change, but I didn’t see how and didn’t have the time to spend figuring it out.

The camera functioned pretty well.  It shot 1280x720i 25fps .mp4′s. These were easily converted 1920×1080 Apple ProRes422(HQ) files using MPEG Streamclip.  I toyed with the idea of slowing the footage down to 24 fps in case the projection was going to be in a US format (25fps is used in Europe).  But I never got the delivery specs.

The camera shot AMAZING video…for a phone.  The colors were decent, it functioned alright in low-light.  The controls were easy to use and made sense.  In fact, the camera options were the most intuitive part of the device.  You could easily change the recording quality, white balance preset, and switch to black & white, sepia, or “saturated” colors.

I left everything on auto.

The camera also had a pretty nice stereo recorder.

—

There were a few drawbacks to the camera.

1.) Jerky zoom.  It’s impossible to zoom smoothly either using the on
screen option or the buttons.
2.) Lack of manual controls.  No manual exposure or manual focus. This made VFX shots VERY hard as the exposure would change MID SHOT as things in the shot moved. (Like a car…or a person.)
3.) Sensor lag.  This is actually kind of cool.  In fact, if I’d gotten the camera sooner and had more time to conduct tests…I probably would have incorporated this into my film.  check it out here:

—

Because of the difficulties with exposure and the way I shot some of the scenes, the VFX I had originally planned were going to be VERY difficult.  I fact, I spent several hours on a few shots and didn’t make too much progress.

It wasn’t until this text message exchange with my friend Bruce that I saw “the light” and revamped my ideas.

I re-watched my cut and thought HOW can I tell this story “more simply?”

Even though it was late…and I was pretty tired, I still figured it out fairly quickly.  It wasn’t as “flashy” as I originally planned, but that was ok.  

K.I.S.S. – keep it simple, stupid.  It’s a little base, but it’s often correct.  

Get rid of the extras, include ONLY what you need to in order to tell the story.

In fact, making the VFX less obtrusive actually improved the piece. With a little sound design, and a couple well place shots – I was easily able to get the IDEA across.  It wasn’t necessary to include flashy effects.  Plus…it would have probably taken me ALL night.

And I like sleep.

—

In the end, I made a film that given the limitations of the schedule & the medium I’m pretty happy with.

Check it out here:

Anyone else shooting on mobile devices? What has your experience been?

[EDIT]

In the end, they didn’t show ANY cell films the bigscreen…why not? That was never explained to me. BUT they did show our film on several flat-screens in lobby.

-Luke

hey friends,

here’s the final part of my interview with Lex Halaby! enjoy=)

—–

LG: So what the heck do you do?

LH: I’m a director. I like to think writer/director even though I haven’t directed a feature film. I write the concepts and scripts the both my short films and music videos. When I do commercial work the concept has been hashed out by the agency already so my role is different. I don’t like to say that I’m one kind of director or another. I don’t want to just do music videos, or commercials, or narrative – I like to do it all.

LG: You’ve done some documentary stuff to, right?

LH: Yeah, in fact right now I’m working with a really talented editor, Ryan Brown on a documentary I shot in London. It’s about a performing arts school called “Chickenshed.” They are a really interesting, progressive school that incorporates people from all backgrounds, all ages, and all abilities into one performing arts troupe. The work they do is really amazing and they’ve become a leading example of what you can do by incorporating all types of people.

There’s people that are physically handicapped, mentally handicapped, and completely able bodied all performing on stage together. We interviewed students in the school, the faculty, and the founders. We also filmed their rehearsals and performances and are in the process of creating a short documentary about the message and principles that they are built on.

LG: Is this something that they gave you the script for? Or did they give you a “Thesis statement,” something that said “we want want a piece that communicates these ideas?”

LH: No, actually in the case of “Chickenshed” they were really open to how I wanted to approach the subject. I went out there and for the first week I just took in the school. I sat in on as many classes as I could and got to know people. I got to see them perform and see what they do. And from that I was able to start putting together my ideas for the structure of the piece. Then I developed questions for the interviews that fit into that structure for the film. After shooting 12 hours of interviews I was able to find the right cut-aways and b-roll footage to compliment and exemplify what they were saying.

LG: I think it’s really smart that you spent that week just being there and being in the moment, absorbing it before you started shooting. Do you use a similar technique on your non-documentary projects?

LH: In the creative process, it’s really important for me to be on location as much as possible prior to shooting. I do a lot of my visualization on location. You know that from the “Man-Man” video, when you and I went out and looked at stuff and shot photos. It’s important for me to be in the space so that I can be inspired by it and pre visualize things before production.

LG: I remember on one of your recent projects, the Coheed & Cambria video, you went to the location a couple time before you shot, right?

LH: Yeah I went out to Victorville, CA a few times. The first time was to find locations and make the decision that yes, Victorville was the place to shoot. The second time was to look at the locations more carefully and think more in terms of blocking. We also did some lighting tests with the camera to find out when the best time to shoot certain scenes would be. Victorville is a couple hours away, but I knew I couldn’t show up on the day of production and not have those fundamental decisions made already – cause then it’d just be mass confusion.

LG: So tell me a little bit more about this project.

LH: The record label and band’s management came to me with a creative brief and said “we want to do something very different with this project.” They were open to it being more than a normal music video. The brief included a section from Claudio, the singer, with certain themes that the song’s lyrics touched on. So I those themes and incorporated them into a short film script. I pitched it as a “music video/short film hybrid using the song as the score.” They liked it, and I booked the job.

It was an interesting experiment working dialog in and out of a music video. There are times where you hear the music and lyrics and times where it’s just an instrumental version of the song with dialog from the characters. I think we achieved something unconventional and different which is what we set out to do.

And people have responded to it. G4 did a premiere of it on “Attack of the Show” and a shorter version w/o dialogue went to MTV. It was a great opportunity and I’m glad I got to take advantage of it.

LG: What’s the logline?

LH: It’s about three teenagers who live in a small desert town that’s turned against them. Through the course of the video you slowly discover why.

LH: I’m also developing it as a longer form short film, separate from the music video. Originally I wrote a longer script then I paired the footage down in editorial to work with-in the constraints of a music video. There other scenes and dialog that were too long to air, but will be great in the festival version.

LG: So what stage is the short film in?

LH: The longer form version of the Coheed & Cambria video is currently being edited. Then it will need a new sound mix and score because the timing will have changed. It will be a few weeks before I get into the meat of it, because I’m doing this version out-of-pocket and since requires some favors — I have to work at a “favor pace.”

LG: I think it’d be interesting to tell people what a “favor pace” means. ‘Cause I know what you mean, but I’m not sure all of our readers will.

LH: Sure. When I say a “favor pace” it means that people are going to do the work between their paying gigs and in their spare time as a “favor” to you. So things move slower when you are asking people to work for free.

If you have a little bit of money, it definitely helps, so sometimes I will pay out-of-pocket just to keep things moving.

LG: It’s the whole “better, faster, cheaper” thing.

LH: It’s the triangle: quality, time, and money. If you don’t have much money and you want high quality you gotta give somebody a lot of time with it.

LG: So what other projects are you working on right now?

LH: I just directed a project for Coca-Cola’s new Christmas jingle, a music video for the band Train, and a music video for Kimberly Caldwell from American Idol. It’s been a really busy month and balance all the projects has been a challenge, albeit an enjoyable one. Those should all be released in the coming weeks.

Before that I did a large Latin video for Juanes, international latin rock-star. That was a great experience. He was fantastic to work with, we got along really well, and it’s a beautiful video. I think we hit the themes and tone of the video perfectly.

It takes place all at night, outside on city streets. You don’t see anyone at all, it’s completely empty, but you do see people’s shadows. So Juanes is walking through an empty city with the shadows of a bustling city all around him.

LG: So do you have any writing projects right now?

LH: Well, I’m pitching on quite a few music videos and a couple commercials right now. And in my personal writing I am developing a graphic novel and some short scripts. I think the graphic novel is going to be my next major undertaking. I just met wih my friend Skip Martin who’s just published his graphic novel, “Bizarre New World” and talked with him about the next steps I need to take in order to get it made.

LG: What inspired you to work on a graphic novel?

LH: Graphic novels are very creatively freeing to me. There’s no limitations from a storytelling and budget standpoint. It costs the same amount to draw a character sitting alone on a park bench as it does to draw a character flying a massive spaceship through a black hole. There’s no budget constraints and therefore far fewer creative constraints. Of course the quality of the art and printing all cost money but not in the same way it does in filmmaking.

There’s many stories I’d like to tell that are too expensive for the screen and graphic novels allow me to bring these visual stories to life. It’s still something I’m exploring, but very excited about the possibilities of the medium.

LG: What were the graphic novels that have been inspiring you?

LH: “Scalped” and I’ve also really enjoyed the “Walking Dead” series.

LG: Can you think of any examples where inspiration has come from an unexpected place?

LH: I’m usually inspired when I’m traveling or when I’m somewhere where there’s a lot of visual motion. If I sit and watch cars, or I’m at the airport, or just watching people walk by I’m able to think much better than if I’m starring at a screen.

Usually when I’m writing I just walk around the house in circles. I can’t just sit if I’m trying to break an idea. I think all my ideas come from movement and action.

LG: I like that bit about motion, how it lets you disconnect and hit those other areas of your brain.

LH: Yeah, I didn’t even realize that until a few years ago. Once I realized it, it really helped. It’s really hard for me to just write in front of my computer. That’s why I really need to get my laptop fixed [laughs] so I can be somewhere else. [LG laughs]

The other thing I do, just from a productivity standpoint, is run a program called “Freedom.” It blocks all internet access for a certain amount of time. So if I have a hard deadline and I’m getting distracted with emails and the internet, I’ll run that program and it block my internet access for say “the next two hours.” The only way to get it back is to fully reboot the computer, which is a pain, so I don’t do it. And then I get more writing done.

LG: That’s a great productivity tool.

LH: It’s a free program too. [http://macfreedom.com/]

LG: So I think we’re getting close to being done…if you weren’t filmmaking – what do you think you’d be doing?

LH: I spend a lot of time thinking about that. If I wasn’t in film I’d probably be in either politics or journalism. Like NGO [Non-government organization] style politics. Or psychology. [both laugh] I think they are all related in a way. I think that in writing and filmmaking understanding psychology is really important. Especially for understanding motivation and how characters interact with each other. Also to understand the psychology of the audience. What do they interpret from the characters on screen? Do they connotate it as positive or negative and how do they react to it? I think those are valuable skills.

I’m always involved in politics and I love to travel. I like to be outside of the US, so that’s probably where the NGO side of things comes from. And journalism, that’s from my love of documentary.

I like picking people’s brains…like you’re doing to me right now. [laughs]

LG: Deep into the dark recess of Lex’s mind we will travel…

LH: Super meta right now. [both laugh]

LG: So what’s your favorite episode of The Real Luke?

LH: I think the trailer that you did was ****ing amazing. I love that trailer. It was particularly funny because the other Real Luke stuff is intentionally so lo-fi and has a homemade feeling, but then this is really huge and epic and I like that contrast.

LG: [laughs] Cool. So where can people see your work?

LH: You can go to my website www.lexhalaby.com and to my production company’s site www.mighty8.tv.

[End Interview.]

So that wraps it up. Definitely some exciting work on the way from Lex!

I really enjoyed picking his brain and finding out about his creative process…it’s an exciting adventure getting to learn more about how my friends work and I’m glad I can share it with y’all!

-Luke

Howdy friends!

Here’s the first part of my interview with good friend and talented filmmaker Lex Halaby [LH]. Once again…I’m [LG].

LG: So how do we know each other?

LH: That’s actually a funny question, cause I was talking about this with our friend Liz recently, cause I’m not actually sure when we first met. I think it was through the Writers’ Group, right?

LG: Yeah, that’s where we really got to know each other. So, tell me a little about the WG, what did we do there?

LH: Well I’d been talking with a lot of friends, most of which were directors about the various stuff they were writing and it seemed like everyone was having a hard time completing projects. So I thought it’d be good to get together every two weeks to read each other’s material and give feedback. Having the schedule of writers’ group would force you to write and you’d get good constructive feedback from people who’s opinions you trusted.

LG: Do you think we were successful in that?

LH: Yeah, I think that the WG helped a lot. And we all became friends through it. So it was nice to have a routine excuse to hang out, crack some beers, read each other’s stuff, and catch up.

LG: Yeah, I thought that was a really cool part of it. Cause I didn’t really know you guys very well before the group.

LG: Were there any writing projects you started writing in the group that you completed? Or projects you later went on to shoot?

LH: There’s no way I would have been able to write that 13 Episode Webseries, tentatively titled [laughs] “Blowers,” without the WG. Having the deadline really forced me to write.

And there’s other things that I wrote that I brought into the group and shot as well, short films and things like that. Sometimes music video concepts.

LG: Like the ‘Man Man’ one, right?

LH: Yeah, exactly. That came into the group a couple times to be refined. It was part short film, part music video and finding the right balance and working on that w/ Ryan, the singer as well. It was good for me to get outside feedback.

LG: He came into WG a couple times after that right, when you guys were working on that short film…

LH: Yeah on “Oh Joy.” We became friends after working on ‘Man Man’ and decided to make another project. Ryan came into the group and we wrote a short script together called “Oh Joy.”

LG: Any plans to work on another project with him?

LH: We’re talking about a few things and we’ll definitely work together on something in the future.

LG: That’s something I wanted to ask you more about, the collaboration process. Because often as a writer/director you’re taking your concept and vision all the way. So what was it like to collaborate with another writer on “Oh Joy?”

LH: It was sort of a new experience for me. Cause coming from a background of music videos: you get the music, you write the concept then you follow it all the way through the production and post.

But with this project, Ryan and I really wanted to collaborate.

First we bounced around ideas for the short film, then when we settled on an idea – we separately wrote our own versions. The tones ended up being very different.

We talked about it and said well “I kind of like this line from yours, but it doesn’t work that well with this section from mine.” So we got together and scrapped the two versions and then started totally fresh on a new one. We sat down in the same room and wrote it over the course of a few hours.

LG: That’s a really interesting way you guys ended up writing. Once you had the script, what was the division of labor? Because you didn’t shared director’s credit, right? Were you co-producers?

LH: My background is in production, so I handled the directing. But Ryan was definitely helping me produce it. He helped get the cast through Charlyne Yi, he got Paul Rust, Anne Gregory, and Martin Starr.

Then we shot it a day or two before he left for Philadelphia.

This is an example where having a deadline makes it all happen. One way or another the short film is happening. If you’re just like “when ever the time is right” you don’t end up shooting it.

LG: Yeah I agree, deadlines are important. How do you set them for yourself? What do you do to keep yourself motivated and inspired?

LH: I usually need external deadlines. I can set deadlines for myself, but the things that take priority are the ones with hard deadlines. Since I’m usually juggling a few projects at any given time, which ever one has a deadline first, get’s done first.

But I keep a fairly lengthy to-do list. I try to knock off more stuff than gets put on. It’s never been completely empty though. [both laugh] Cause there’s a few things on there that are hugely time consuming and I haven’t quite figured out how to do them between other things.

LG: Is this a digital list, a paper list? Where does it live?

LH: It’s a digital list. It’s in my iCal. So I keep my schedule open and the to-do list next to it. I have two monitors and the monitor on the left is just my to-do list and calendar and I work on the one to the right.

LG: That’s interesting, your calendar and to-do list are always up. Schedule is boring, but important for us creative types…so that we actually get things done.

LH: I need to work on more minute time management. Like really managing every hour of the day. But it’s tough cause on any given day my schedule is different. I could plan to spend a whole day writing, then midway thru, new notes come in from a label and I have to make a couple edit changes on something.

All of a sudden my plan to “just write” has be blown cause there is a fire to put out. You have to roll-with-the-punches, but if I have an open day I try to schedule it.

[End Part 1.]

Next week, we’ll learn more about Lex’s creative process and hear about his new videos, shorts, and other projects!

-Luke

p.s. If there are questions you’d like me to ask people in the future, please let me know!

howdy friends!

this past week has been a busy one. I shot material for 4 different projects over the course of 3 days!

DAY 1

DP Matt Irwin and I shot the interstitials for the “Dark Crypt of Horror” fundraiser. (DCOH is the comic featured in “Certified.”) I was so impressed with the work that Neil Vokes and his team did – that I decided to make the entire book. but, shooting the movie has tapped my “creative projects” fund. so in order to do so I’ll need some investors. which is where the video comes in. it will be a humorous plea for cash. hehe.

a piggy bank helps convince people to invest.

after that we went to Century City and shot a new end to “APT. 5.” with the help of Ana Clavell, we assembled a little “memorial” and got several different versions of the new final shot. it was rainy and misty out there…and almost as empty as when we last visited. I’ve actually already cut this shot in…and it looks pretty great. hope to do the sound and color on the new edit soon.

DAY 2

work! I went to my day job and did my editing thang.

DAY 3

we headed back to Topanga Canyon for the “Certified” pickups… during the original production we had an issue with our “picture dog.” the first problem probably being that is wasn’t a “picture dog.” the second being that when we went to shoot, it decided to run into the woods and hide. seriously. so what was a pretty important plot point – an approaching dog, was not in the film.

thankfully, one of my friends, Gregg had a dog. and he was gracious enough to come out on a tuesday afternoon and hang out with us. while there, we picked up a few other insert shots that I wanted to get. during the course of the edit I found a couple of moments that could be made better with a few small shots. since we were going back to the location it made sense to get these as well.

it’s pretty common to have the “I wish we had shot _____” moments in post production. sometimes you are lucky enough to be able to go back and get them.

then, during the downtime we filmed a couple pickups for “The Real Luke: Pursuance of Justice.” I’m in the process of cutting together an extended “Hill-Billy Battle” scene. I needed a few shots to tie together the footage we already had.

these include:

• close-up feet stopping and turning
• extreme close-up squinting eyes
• extreme close-up hatchet grip
• POV struggling to get up

it’s going to be a really fun & action packed scene!

—-

so I’ve got a fair amount of editing to do. also, going to get to play around with After Effects on the DCOH video. I’m forcing myself to learn some new techniques for that one. I can visualize what I want to do, but I don’t know how to do it…yet =)

I’ll leave you with this…a great spot from New Zealand that features my favorite mountain dweller.

-Luke