On To Whom It May Concern.

I met Phil, writer-director for this feature project, on Friday at the office where he was discussing with David. Your typical red-haired, high-strung, impatient, Irish guy. His family is supposedly wealthy with couple of restaurants, including Naked Lunch, in Manhattan. (Yeah, your typical director-is-PA-with-rich-uncle musing applies here.) David call timed me at 8 am at Chelsea Hotel before going to far-off location in Brooklyn. I got there but the situation was not hopeful for the day. Actually it was the omen that the day was not off to good start. Good thing I didn't bet on this year's Super Bowl because I would've lost for sure, because I would've bet on Raiders. Who knew? Lady of Fate is funny that way. Apparently the camera they were hoping to use from One Roll production broke down yesterday. I knew they had a problem with lens, but now something in the camera broke. Here we are, call time 8 am at remote Brooklyn street, with child actors and crews standing by without a camera on Super Bowl Sunday. Who would wanna work on this particular day anyway? Not the camera, who worked overtime, like the crew, in harsh cold weather. For next FIVE hours, it was a race to acquire camera to make the day "happen." Here we go again. If I was the producer, I would've called it off, cut the loss, and bid for another day. Yet they didn't see it that way. The indie movement, or spirit, is to forge ahead, to the infinity, no, the impossibility and beyond. It works, but when you want to create a picture as closely to your creative vision, I say back away, and look for the alternatives. If you are to compromise for one thing, compromise for the sake of film vision, not just to make it. Film doesn't happen by chance, or by dumb luck, as my former 16mm instructor would say. It requires careful planning more than resilient execution.

I rode in Phil's banged-up pick-up truck with Paul who came from LA. I thought Paul was the DP by the way he talked and his past works, but Richie came in with Millie with the camera later to be the DP for the feature again. Richie didn't sleep for 36 hours. I hoped they were paying him enough. Interestingly, they brought Steadycam guy, Andrew, who was from London. He was a good chap, shouldering heavy Steadycam arm for long day to come. He was glad that he was carrying lighter 16mm SR-3 cam instead of his usual 35mm or HD cams. Arnie(?) came with his friend's beat-up car with some lighting kits. I was shocked that we didn't have any e & g at all. No truck, no grip, no electric, no gaffer--maybe Arnie was, but I remember him being AC, rather than being the gaffer. Everything seemed falling apart, but no one really cared. I couldn't believe THIS was a feature project?! My first feature experience came just like that. I saw my promised Key PA credit came and went like a wind and it became more concern of getting paid rather than doing a solid job. There wasn't much to do anyway with lack of gears and craft service table.

Gene and V--that's her name for sure, an artist couple from LA came to support Phil. We talked and ate lunch at Pizzaria place where we were supposed to shoot, but never realized. I was damn glad that I ate big sandwich before the production started because that's the only hearty meal I ate for the day. There was no lunch, no craft service, and cheapo plain pizzas were the dinner. Yuck! But, the hunger got best of me and had FIVE slices of pizzas before I regreted. Sandwiches came in later that looked tempting and fresh. The diet cokes left from yesterday were brought in. Some water. Nothing else. The WORST craft service you can imagine because there was none. I felt bad for the cast and the crew that I couldn't offer them any craft service as a Key PA. Since everyone was concerned of acquiring the camera first and foremost, craft service was not a priority at all. Fortunately, the crew didn't rebel. Sure, I could buy something to satisfy my thirst and hunger now that I was getting paid, but it wasn't just right on the set.

The first shot was around 3 pm. It was a cloudy day, but it set the mood for the scene alright. We shot at near by church first with a steadycam. There was a wild fire that attracted a helicopter and couple of firetrucks that would've hindered sound guys, but the situation got under control quickly. When I saw that blazing fire from far, I began to believe in jinx and figured, this project wouldn't get any dumb luck.

Phil was over-directing and production high. He was always standing next to the steadycam monitor attached at the bottom, directing child actors with verbal cues that walked all over sound capture. It became apparent to everyone that our director was very controlling. We soon moved to a pond near by park/yard with tall foxtails--I haven't seem them for long time. Most of the foxtails were taller than human heights that created a sense of desolateness. The location was nice and quite, but I wasn't sure why we were shooting here because the storyboard dictated the scene happened close to civilization, not near deserted pond. It became apparent that the director was making up shots as we went along. Although the storyboard artist worked up very nice screens, for pittance mentioned Paul, but they became useless fast like any other plans we might had for the day.

The sun was setting quickly, but we were capturing shots even though the darkness swiftly swept across the land. I thought we would be wrapping up after the sunset since we had no light truck with us, but I was wrong. We returned to our holding area, an Irish Lodge/Pub and lit up with two lights brought by Arnie. Hmph. It was 6pm and the crew watched Super Bowl that featured Matrix & the Hulk trailers while the director worked the shots. We worked few more shots, one complicated shot involving smoking that I got dizzy with smoke filling up the room. It became apparent that none of the shots we did today would matter: they wouldn't cut, they wouldn't look right, they wouldn't sound right, either. The whole day was basically wasted from my point of view. The film doesn't have all the necessary funding, to my understanding. But the crew were professionals to work with any given limited situations like this because the producers were pro who employed them for other projects. We wrapped quickly around 9pm and each group grabed a cab home. People didn't get paid on the spot because the production company and the account for this feature was yet created. David asked create an invoice and collect the check on Tuesday. (I went but unable to meet him up on Tuesday night. He urged me not to panic for the money, $10000 of it, is there to pay people. I wasn't in panic over $100 despite my financial difficulty. But I was increasingly doubtful about the whole scheme of things.)

Whitey said film production is like sex; more you get, you get better at it. Well, Sunday felt like a bad one-night stand without gratifying payoff. I guess I'm not in a position to ask for the best sex, rather in a position to experience all the good things as well as bad things. It was just my luck. The producers are reevaluating this project as days go by. I somehow feel that this project won't get off ground more than its very first day... That's bad because it would've employed me for next 30 days.

I realized I now have to approach film production like a regular job. I would still meet interesting people, work on creative projects, and have gratifying experinece, but they wouldn't come regularly as I expected. It's a risk I took when I chose this career, and I'm ready to handle it.

Third Day on One Roll.

Another 3 pm call time, but I went to the office first before heading toward the new-found location they setup last night. Because of the second day fiasco, they added another production day, but they contracted people and gears for just three days to save money. (Again, knowing where to spend or cut became crucial.) The producers were scrambling to put together contigency plan for the Saturday. This is where producers work overtime to make things happen and they did make it, even if I wasn't there to witness it. Since I wasn't getting paid, and spending another day out in cold freezing weather wasn't my ideal weekend plan, no matter how much I loved film production, I backed out. I figured I got enough out of this production experience and move on to next. However, David, one of the producers, offered me Key PA job for upcoming feature production on Sunday which I gladly took instantly. He first offered me at first 50, but went up 100. Woohoo! My first PAYING gig. $100 on Sunday wasn't that much, but this ain't union shoot with multi-million deals.

I went over to DUMBO where we set up our camp. Again it was right next to river with a nice view of Mahattan skyline, but the weather wasn't so bad compare to last night. (Any weather is better than last night.) Barry drove in with his nice black Corvette. No wonder Corvette was in his script. Utilize what you have. Cool. The shooting this time posed little challenge as we setup at a street with little traffic. However, in that cold night, there were cars and people walking by. There was a pub nearby that released bunch of drunks when we were shooting crucial long-take. Because the scene involved the Hooker hooking up with John(Barry) by his Corvette, it drew some loud noises by onlookers that disrupted the production. Why can't they see and respect that dozen people were working hard in freezing cold night? But we marched on and got the shots in the can by 3 am as we planned.

Although we lost couple of thousands yesterday, I don't know why they weren't buying more for craft service. The craft service got good to worse quickly in last three days. There were fruits and granola bars on the first day, but now we were scrambling for cup noodles that cost 40 cents each. It wasn't my position to voice my dissatisfaction with the craft service, but I was getting paid with MEALS and credit, damn it. At least they can do is provide some good food so that crew can march on with balanced, nutrious, food in their stomachs.

Had a nice dinner at Kino where we had our holding area. The manager, Jordan, whom I drove to JFK with to pick up his passport, told me that they paid only $350 for the crew meals and the place to settle. The dinner was a nice chicken dish--what else?, with warm baked breads. But the next meal, at 3 am, was pizzas again. I was getting sick of pizzas already, but such is life of film crew. You eat whatever you can get your hands on, dirt cheap. Got home just past 5 am and slept through most of Saturday until I found myself hungry, willing for anything but a pizza.

Second Day on One Roll.

3 pm call time at the Meat Packing District. The coldest night of the year, and we were right next to Hudson river. The wind cut like a blade, but we, the crew, were out there to set up heat tents and lighting on the streets. It took about 2 hours to set up with 2 additional g & e crew showed up for this very day. One of them was Full Sail alumni, but he wasn't keen on becoming chummy with me, despite my Full Sail grad jacket. I'm so glad I chose the jacket instead of the watch. Because of its bulky size, I didn't know I would ever wear it, the winters in NYC are unlike the ones I experienced in Chicago, but it's perfect for cold location shooting days like this. However, it wasn't adequate enough with four layers of clothing I had underneath that jacket. With heat blower and all, nothing could keep the crew warm enough. That's why everyone was more or less glad that we were forced off the street because a meat packing factory has to work at the very spot where we were set up to shoot. We got couple shots before they told us we gotta move, but I guess those shots won't be used anymore. The whole day is wasted, blowing couple of thousand dollars of production money for virtually nothing. If the production had more money, we could've shut down that corner street with help of cops and bribe the factory, saving from the disgrace as well as additional production money to complete the film elsewhere. It's important lesson in film, or any biz, to know when to spend or to cut the loss. I learned that well over the course of this week...

In a mad rush, we wrapped nice lighting setup we got going, and packed to go in one hour. Although the talk of shooting elsewhere floated for awhile, but it got quickly scrapped and everyone went home by midnight. Everyone was glad the night was over prematurely. I went home and took hot, hot shower to recover some warmth within my body and slept like a pig.

First Day on One Roll.

As I've mentioned on last post, it's been long since I was involved with a film production. However, I was confident that I could DO the job as a PA. Yup. Somehow I'm starting from the very bottom, paying my due, more or less. As I've mentioned, I was impresse by the technical proficencies of the crew and the gears that I didn't have to do much except help out here and there. Since the production crew was experienced in various commercials and music videos, the short looked like another job to them with little challenges posed by cramped a NY flea hotel. Regardless, I somehow became a "grip" PA to Ron, who was renting his g & e truck for $1000 for 3 days. The truck was running tight ship with all the gears having their own places. He liked me enough to offer me a job as his apprentice on the spot, yet he couldn't for I didn't have the licence to drive the commercial truck. Because Ken from CDtM advised me not to pursue Electric/Grip jobs if I didn't aspire to become a DP/Gaffer, I wasn't inclinced to take this path. But, as a PA, I was back in the game, trying to soak up the experience as much as I can by being observant around everything. I'm hoping I would be moving up the ladder as Script Sup, AD, or a Line Producer, before I break out with my debut film. It will be sometime as people get to know me, work with me on few projects, offer me opportunities, and finally back me as a reliable person to execute and lead a film project as a writer-director.

I got to know many people, which is the best part or the deal of working as a lowly PA. The first thing I tried was to remember everyone's name and I succeed. Everyone was pleasant and introduced themselves before I did. Actor-Writer-Director Barry was gracious of everyone who was working on his film for almost nothing till the end. Richie, the DP, kept me on toe to pay respect for the seniority of the crew. In tight-knited community like film biz, you need to follow the unwritten, unspecified rules of the game before they accept you.

Despite the accident with the camera in the morning, the shooting went smoothly. I was glad I wasn't outside in the freezing weather that hit NYC. The shooting wrapped around 2 AM, but I left with other PA, Jim, who recently moved from Tampa Bay, away from his cushy video production jobs, around 4 AM after all the cleanup. The PAs are the first to arrive and the last to leave on the set.

After five months of hitatus, I'm back in the game... err I mean film production. Another 16mm short titled One Roll. A story of young photographer who got too close to her subject, a New York prostitute, that led to a tragic end. The quality of the crew and the gears are way better; these people know how to do the job and do them well. Despite the car accident with the rented camera kits in the morning, we nailed down around 20 plus shots. Talk about aggressive scheduling! 8 pages per day, two more days to go. Next two days will be out in cold, cold New York Meat Packing District. At night. I don't know about the people, but will the camera function?

It was long 16 hours. We got out just before 12 hour turn-around time for following day call time. And I'm getting paid with just meals and credits. As they say, there's nothing like show biz.

Reason: Mickey Mouse Clubbed. "My first cartoon short, Steamboat Willie, was a direct parody of Keaton's movie Steamboat Bill, Jr. On the very first page of the script, it says, "Orchestra starts playing opening verses of Steamboat Bill."... So yeah, they created me. But they don't want to let other people build on me when they make their own creations, the way they did when I was born. And now I'm locked up for another stinking 20 years! Do you have any idea what it's like to have to greet kids at Disneyland every single day, always smiling, never slipping off for a cigarette?" Free Mickey! Free Public Domain!

Tech Review: Transmedia Storytelling. "Younger consumers have become information hunters and gatherers, taking pleasure in tracking down character backgrounds and plot points and making connections between different texts within the same franchise.

In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best—so that a story might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels, and comics, and its world might be explored and experienced through game play. Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained enough to enable autonomous consumption. That is, you don’t need to have seen the film to enjoy the game and vice-versa. As Pokemon does so well, any given product is a point of entry into the franchise as a whole." Living and dreaming large. Across the boundaries of medias. Cool beans.

The 20 most effective TV Ads of 2002. It's nice to see the great ads on the net again. I need to watch and know them in order to stay current. It also makes a nice case for effective visual communication study.

Russian Ark. "A film that really was cut in the camera. A film that mirrors the flowing of time accurately. Like life, it is impossible to divide time." The first-ever single screen, single-take full-length feature. This would be interesting film experience.

BBC honcho smirks at U.S. copycat shows. When you are the center of the world, it's hard to change like the rest of the world who are constantly under influence of each other. Even if the U.S. may command the largest share of the public attention, foreign or domestic, it's does not necessarily command the most creative, nor the most entertaining content in the world. (Your mileage vary, of course.)

Coming Attractions: The Write Stuff. Scott Frank, Daniel Waters, Steve Zaillian, Steve Barancik, John Hamburg, Shane Black, Scott Rosenberg, Dayan Ballweg, James Cameron, Chris Morgan, Brent Hanley, Charlie Kaufman.

Star Wars Episode 2 IMAX experience

Since I knew I wouldn't buy the DVD--I didn't care for the first episode DVD either except for the informative documentary on 2nd disk, I decided to spend money on the IMAX version instead. It didn't mean I really dig the movie to see it again on the bigger screen, but I took it upon as my study to find out how a traditional Hollywood flick would translate to this medium. Here are my findings:

1. The very first thing you notice is the aspect ratio. IMAX is nearly akin to TV ratio, which is 4:3. It means traditional 35mm/70mm will be cropped to "fit" to IMAX aspect ratio and people wouldn't know at first because of overwhelming IMAX screen size. Once you are familiar with the medium, the difference becomes the most immediate. You are watching largest TV screen there are.
2. Because IMAX encompasses nearly all of human visual field, I found that it's requires different narrative conventions that are from regular cinema. Your eyes can see nearly everything at the regular cinemas at a quick glance, yet on IMAX, you have to actively turn you heads to see the things happening around the whole screen. It gets really hectic if there's a grand action scene like SW Episode 2 did at the end. This translate to the fact that selective focus/attention is crucial for IMAX film screen composition. That's why few IMAX films deviates from the center of frame and there aren't going to be IMAX narrative conventions exploiting this fact.
3. Converting regular films to IMAX is expensive proposition, even for George Lucas. That's why IMAX version of SW Episode 2 is a different edit, reminding me of the fiasco of Phantom Edit from the previous film. I'm not sure the exact involvement of Mr. Lucas with this edit--since he strongly believe editing room is where the film is really made, but I'm sure the cost factor mainly drove to edit out few scenes which tightening the film narrative. I think the film lost about 3-5 minutes counting a few scenes and losing some of the dialogues in few scenes. I doubt this will make out beyond IMAX theaters, but it's interesting and unexpected finding, no less.
4. Oh yes, bad acting stands out more on larger screen. There's no hiding THAT fact.

All in all, it was quite nice to watch the film again on the large screen. However, unlikes special edition of the first trilogy of Star Wars, this didn't make it anything special. Indeed, the magic is in the story, the characters, and the heart, not in technology.

p.s. The Episode 2 DVD was disappointing compare to the first. The 2nd disk entirely devoted to the technology of making the movie, instead of inner walls of ILM and get glimpse of the personal side of Mr. Lucas. The documentary felt very distanced, like the movie that came with it.

OpenP2P.com: Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution. "Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy... Piracy is progressive taxation... Customers want to do the right thing, if they can... Shoplifting is a bigger threat than piracy. File sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing publishers... Free" is eventually replaced by a higher-quality paid service... There's more than one way to do it."

Sundance Online Film Festival. Give it a shot.

Taipei Times: Revealing the real Ang Lee. "In February of 1985 Lee had finished his studies at New York University film school and was heading back home. "One night before my luggage was to be shipped, my graduation film Fine Line won the Best Film and Best Director awards at the NYU film festival. Agents from the William Morries Agency wanted me to sign a contract with them... So Lee began writing scripts, adapting scripts, and co-writing scripts with other new filmmakers. Lee recalls how difficult the years after graduation were for him: "If a film company likes your first draft, they'll ask you to rewrite or edit some parts, three to five times. Two years later, these scripts either come to nothing or need to continue developing. ... This is what they call the `development hell of filmmaking.'"