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 =)
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.
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: 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?
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!
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!
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.
so a week after directing “Certified” I directed a webseries pilot for a show called “Updating Paige.” it’s “a comedic take on the world of social networking from the perspective of a girl trying to keep it from taking over her life.” as we all know, sites like facebook are playing an ever increasing larger role in our day-to-day lives.
it was exciting to get hired to direct someone ELSE’S material. I’m so used to doing my own shorts & music videos – it’s been a while since I’ve brought another writer’s words to the screen. (here’s a scene I did for an actress’ demo) there’s been a few potential opportunities, but the material just wasn’t right.
even though the schedule made September super hectic for me, the material made it worth the trouble. plus, I got to work with a couple people who’ve been on my list of “people to collaborate with.” our producer is Jenny Napier is a fellow SFSU alum, and our DP, Matt Irwin has worked on several of my other projects in the camera department. it was great to get to work with them on a creative and fun project. I’m sure we’ll work together again…hopefully soon on more “Updating Paige.” =)
I’ve got some great stories from the production including: grumpy shop owners, yelling landlords, blown fuses, noisy crickets, and late nights in Pasadena. a big thank you to the people of Jones Coffee who graciously let us use their coffee shop. if you live in the LA area…and like really good coffee w/o the attitude (*coughINTELIGENSIAcough*) check out Jones.
until the edit is complete…here are some pictures from the shoot.
this week I have another behind-the-scenes installment of “The Real Luke: Pursuance of Justice.” I’m not sure who that joker handsome devil was that did the last one, but he sure spells poorly. heh, anyhoo.
I want to give y’all a look into my creative process.
often when I start a project I”ll create an Animatic. basically this is a rough visual outline of the proposed piece with a scratch audio tracktrack so I can see how what I’ve conceptualized plays in “real time.” the visuals will be a mix of storyboards, found images, test footage, or even just plain text. the audio will often be me reading the script OR if it’s a music video – the final track.
this is technique is especially helpful for music videos, since there is a fixed amount of time that needs to be filled with picture. I first came upon this idea when editing a music video for another director. at the end of the video there was going to be a CGI shot of two bananas on a grill. the thing that he didn’t realize until we’d cut the video was there was 40 SECONDS of song after that point. did he really want to show one shot of animated fruit for almost a minute???
probably not.
but he didn’t conceptualize the video accurately in preproduction – so now he was hosed.
ever since then I’ve made sure that all my story/performance beats are shown against against the song BEFORE I shoot. that way, if one section is too slow, or lacking in content – I can revise my plan.
so what does this have to do with the “TRL: Pursuance of Justice” trailer? well, even though there wasn’t a fixed music track, I was trying to recreate something with a specific run time – the “30 Second Teaser.” I wanted to make sure my “script” was long enough, so I recorded myself using FCP’s voice over tool, then created text cards that said things like “TRL Traveling in Nature.”
when the pacing felt right, I grabbed a pencil and started to draw the storyboards. then my intern Kevin scanned them, cut them apart, and edited them to the timing of my “text” animatic. that gave myself, the producers, and the DP a clearer idea of the vision and pacing for the film. then from that I created my shot list.
I wouldn’t use this exact process on something like “Certified” but for this project it worked quite nicely.
here’s a side by side comparison of the Animatic and the Final Video. enjoy!
in the next couple weeks I’ll have behind the scenes on “Certified,” “Updating Paige,” and an interview with my friend and filmmaker Lex Halaby!
this is THE REAL LUKE the boring Luke had to get manicured or whatever those metropolitainexuals do.
you may be wondering why Im filling in this week on the blog? It’s because my latest project has priemiered on the intranet! and I wanted to tell you the story – first hand about THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE, a major motion picture coming soon!
it all started when HOLLYWOOD came knocking… needless to say, I answered their call!!!
Apparently they’d seen my Coca-Cola commercial that I filmed in Chile. They told me I had “it” (whatever that is) and that they wanted to make a major motion picture deal with me!
Of course I said yes!!! After interviewing a few directors…and turning them all down, I decided to direct myself. After all, no one knows the Real Luke like the Real Luke knows him!
soon I was off to sunny Southern California. it was a long trek, so my beard got pretty bushy. haha!
the first thing that was up was to go location scouting. (I won the hat and sweatshirt by taking 2nd place in a guitar solo competition, but that’s another story!!!)
it didn’t take me long to find the spots I like – I’m desisive!
soon it was time for the shoot. this is as “Hollywood” as I get. Haha!!!
the producers told me this was a “gorilla shoot” but I didn’t see the KING of the jungle anywhere! he probably knew better than to mess with The REAL Luke
this fellow John was odd, but he took good “footage” – have to remember to bring him along on my next big game hunt to record my trophies!!!
heres me directing! I’m pretty good at it! they kept saying I had great “chops” and they hadn’t even scene me with my hatchet yet!!! LA people are funny!
the next day we went deep into the desert. here is my cast!
this guy is a REAL hillbilly. we paid him in moonshine and “tabaccee”
the action scenes where intense! I do all my own stunts!
I was genuinely scared for my life here! wouldn’t you be???
after the desert we headed into the mountains and I trimmed off the rest of my beard.
I was sad to see it go…but the film required it!
after all, what would take a normal man a year to grow only took me a couple months!!! haha!
for some reason the producers couldn’t get a real bigfoot for the shoot. I mean, if they’d done there homework – they’d know I was the ultimate BIGFOOT trapper!!!
well that’s enough of me talking – time to show you the goods!!!
last saturday we shot my short film “Certified” in a little dell off of Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles. it was an amazing day. the cast and crew performed at the top of their game and we got some AMAZING footage. I can’t wait to share more with you in the coming weeks.
but for now, I’m busy prepping on a webseries pilot that I’m directing this weekend. here’s the synopsis for “Updating Paige”:
Feeling left out of the loop, Paige, a barista at a small coffee shop,
finally signs up for Faceplace, the world’s largest social networking
site. Although she vows to not let Faceplace control her life, she
quickly learns how hard that can be when everyone around her lets it
control theirs.
it’s a super funny script and we have a great cast, so needless to say – I’m stoked!
also, I wanted to give a HUGE thank-you to Josh & Jonathan at Bucks Boys Productions. their help was crucial to getting “Certified” in the can. checkout the amazing work they produce at www.bucksboys.com
here are a couple behind-the-scenes pics from the shoot!
first shot
mailbox scene
-Luke
p.s. stay tuned…cause in the next couple of weeks “The Real Luke: Pursuance of Justice” will be dropping!
so I’m shooting “Certified” in just two days!!! super stoked. the last week has been pretty dang busy, production meetings, casting, rehearsals, financing, shot lists, blocking, wardrobe, props, logistics… AND I’ve been working my day job editing films, videos, cartoons, etc the whole time.
here’s a scan of my to-do list this week…there are other pieces of paper, iPhone alerts and so on, but this will give you a bit of an example of what I’ve been doing.
click to make bigger on flickr.
and in other news, I just signed with a manager for writing & directing! my good friend Ana Clavell is going to be working with me. this is really exciting for me on several levels. first off, because Ana and I “get” each other. she already knows my sense of humor, style, and what I’m interested in doing. and secondly, because it’s going to be great having someone hustling for me. and finally, it will be very helpful to have her continued guidance and mentoring for the projects I pursue.
here’s a back of Ana and I from back in the day when I was her assistant editor…and featured zombie!
ok, back to editing! tomorrow I’m going to be visiting set and finalizing shots, lens choices, props, etc… follow along on twitter.com/lukeguidici!
