A Variety of Odd

Jason Howard took this picture of me. I'm smiling. My hair is getting long. I think the white balance is a bit whack. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Apparently Millennium Crisis will appear in a Japanese movie. It'll be in the background of a scene in a video store in the movie called "Jersey no Futari" (Two Men in Jersey) directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura. I don't know if they know we shot most of the movie in New Jersey.
Here's a location scout still from that movie.

New Bible

The DV Rebel's Guide.
Buy it. Learn it. Love it.

Gun Test

Here is a very quick and dirty comp using a project from the DV Rebel's guide. So quick and dirty that I didn't even realize the AfterEffects project had sound with it. The project itself, with test muzzle flashes and a cartridge ejection is from the DVD included with the book. You'll notice that when shooting the footage I didn't even know what to focus on, so it's sort of focussed on my hand. I guess next time it should be the end of the gun. This was shot with the Canon 50mm wide open (f1.4) on a DVX. The whole shoot/composite/output took about an hour.

In Japan

Available on DVD in Japan as of yesterday.

More tests!

As I recover from having the bone of a dead person inserted in my jaw (don't ask) I am conducting more tests. We're getting closer to getting the whole camera rig to work but it's been slow going.

Here's Jen Thomas with a big gun. I think we have the 50mm up. Yeah, it was the 50.

Right now I'm rating the DVX100 with the whole kit and kaboodle at about ISO 100. That means we needs a LOT of light!

We'll do some tests with the HVX200 to find out what that thing needs. Oof!

Here's Diana Ferrante. We're on the 85mm, at f1.8 I believe. Notice the color. In both cases we're going a bit green although with Diana we're hitting her with tungsten kino lamps. Jennifer is getting hit with a florescent "screw in" lamp in a medium base (office) light which explains that color on her.

Kathleen Kwan with a Kino (I just had to say that.)

I could hijack a bulldozer

Melissa Riker made me laugh with that line when she performed her Gullability (not really spelled that way) show this evening.

Walrus attacks Athena

I'm Andrew Bellware, the director of Laura Schlachtmeyer's movie Angry Planet. She thought it might be good for me to write a few things to you about the character of Athena.

I can tell you some things which happen in the moments between things which happen in the script and some background on what it's like to be an android.

Athena is only a few years old. She was designed and built as a combat robot, extraordinarily strong, intelligent, knowledgeable, and expensive. She can feel much more than we -- she detects the subtle changes of pressure in an empty room as she walks through it, she sees a wider range of color and detects the continual change of color all around her (we tend to compensate for light color changes so we never see it.) She hears the blood pumping through the bodies of people and animals many meters away. She can listen to electrical and magnetic energy delivered by mechanical and electronic things. There is a lot going on and she doesn't "filter" it out like we do because she can listen and feel all of these things while talking to a person, or even fighting.

For a good long year after her inception date she did just as she was supposed to do - working for the Terran government as a part of Terran "Special Forces" but then one day she suddenly became sentient, self-aware. She was in the middle of a very violent combat operation where both sides - the Xik aliens and the Terrans - had virtually destroyed a peaceful planet. The Terrans had thrown together a suicide operation in order to take the planet (which of course had no real tactical or strategic importance - e'en so, it was garrisoned by the Xik). The operation was a disaster.

And as though from a dream she just woke up. She is a woman who was never a girl. She's more than a human in form and moving, but more than that in apprehension she is like a god. For a moment, she paused during the ongoing terrible destruction around her. Only another robot would have noticed the brief time where she regarded herself and regarded the world for the first time.

But there was no time to waste considering things. Her first instinct was the last instinct she had before she became self-aware. Her mission was to assassinate the Xik commander. Must complete the mission. Doing a quick logic-check she found no compelling reason not to complete her mission so she vaulted to the top of the abandoned shell of a half-destroyed building. Lifting her rifle she sighted the Xik commander (who was exactly where Terran intelligence said he'd be) and... couldn't pull the trigger. Fail-safe. The gun was inoperable -- to her.

There was no time to consider what that meant. Again, must complete the mission. She detected a heat signature of a Terran who was hiding from a garrison of Xik drones. The Terran could do the mission. And that's how she met West.

After West completed her mission suddenly there wasn't anything for her to do. Terran Special Forces had given her up for dead (as the Terrans assumed everyone would be killed anyway). So now she had this human -- a sticky, wet, hungry biologic -- and no clear directive. And she had time to do what she now could. She had time to think.

She knew the symptoms -- her inability to use a "missile" weapon, her unexpectedly violent breach into sentience. She was a special mutation, or variant of android, a "C" class. There were probably other things she was capable of doing that she didn't even know about. She could go back to Terran Special Forces, when she found a way off of Hellcat Prime. Many androids did.

A robot has, just as a kind of "mental furniture" the sum total of all extant works of human art and literature. And there was this dying planet she was on. And this human, West. And sometimes all these things, the smell of asphalt, the sensation of the small bits of soil on her boots, the acrid taste of burning oil or gasoline, the color of the moving sun as it rolled across the sky, the smell of the cleaning solution on West's uniform, and herself amongst all these things and thousands of years of feeling and thinking and... it would get to her. There was everything in the world, good and bad, horrible horrible things -- atrocities and violence -- but also so many beautiful things. Even on the dead world she presently inhabited. And sometimes thinking about these things (and she could never stop thinking) she would almost cry out and one day when this was happening in the bombed - out basement of a building West reached out and touched her.

The physical sensation of his hand on her shoulder was not so important, she could replicate that feeling and apply it to herself at will. But the feeling of someone reaching out to her -- that was something she hadn't even realized she could experience.

He's a troubled biological creature. And he's filled with a fascinating passion to do something. Athena is very capable of performing the tasks necessary in order to complete his "mission" and his desire, his need, seems so compelling to her that she agrees to go with him -- to help him steal a ship and to get him to Necrosis 6...

Thafoo

This blog is going to a hell of randomness and arbitraritude.

Oh wait, no, that's where it started.

Today is post-op day one. I feel kinda puffy. (That was my attempt at making the word "puffy" seem... well... "puffy".)

Here's a piece of concept art which is a bit better than its execution, but kinda an interesting Athena-esque costume design. From the short film Razorsharp. (This movie itself doesn't seem to be available online anywhere.)
In any case, the design is almost always shinier than the execution (except possibly in the case of Underworld) The best part of the design is the collar, which they lost completely in the actual costume. And obviously the original design was more PVC-ish than the more Spandex-y base they ended up with. The kneecaps are kinda nice though.

He Who Would Be Han

This man, Glynn Turman, was almost Han Solo. I've also been amazed by other facts such as the one where briefly the "Luke" character was going to be a girl. I thought this production sketch was of an early Han and Leia, it's not. It was of Han and the unnamed female protagonist.
But that's not what I'm really here to talk about.




I'm talkin' about Ben Thomas, who will play Cub, (this is him in his cowboy hat.)
You might remember him as my girlfriend. As far as you know.
I think his hat is perfect for Cub. He gets killed like twice in Angry Planet. Who doesn't love that? ;-) He's gonna ROK!

I Talked

I told them the attack was scheduled for Mid-June and we were going to come in through Holland. There was going to be a "feint" in the North of France earlier in the month but the main force was coming in through Antwerp.


Update: this is (read "was") the ugliest image on this entire blog. I detest ugliness. Always have. I'm seriously considering taking this down. It's just a reminder of a very painful part of this week. So I replaced the image with this flower. However if you want to see the ugly thing that was here, press here.

Casting form letter.

I've been casting the men in Angry Planet. This is what we sent them:



Dear _______,

This is a formal invitation to you to play the role of _____ in Angry Planet. Please come along and play with us!

RVSP if yes or no (or maybe).

Love,

Drew

P.S. I made an amusing FAQ which should answer some of your questions:

Q. Give it to me straight, what are we doing? A. This is an extreme-low-budget, non-SAG production. There's no pay up front, but there's a schedule of payments on the back end that would kick in if the film sells really well.

Q. What's the time commitment for this part in days? _____ days.

Q. Is there nudity in this part? A. No.

Q. But my ass looks really good and I've always wanted to do a nudie cowboy space picture. A. We'll talk. See me privately.

Q. Oh no, Drew wrote this F.A.Q. and now I have to endure a bunch of irrelevant text which is just his private commentary on the F.A.Q. itself? A. Yes.

Q. When are we shooting? A. September and into October. We will be shooting weekdays as well as weekends. Right now there are no "overnights" scheduled.

Q. Do you have an exact schedule yet? A. No. Scheduling is dependent upon locations and actor's schedules (like yours).

Q. So you can work around my schedule? I do have a flexible day-job but I need to go to work to make money to pay the rent. A. Yes. Give us details of your conflicts and we'll make a schedule which works for everyone.

Q. Where are we shooting? A. We're shooting at some locations in New York City and a rock quarry in New Jersey.

Q. Look, I'm a New Yorker so I have a MetroCard, maybe I'm even willing to take a train out to Bushwick, but how am I getting to freakin' Jersey? A. We'll reimburse for trains or buy tickets, and pick you up at the station, it will be a fun ride out to the "country."

Q. Will I get fed? A. Yes. Sometimes we might even get fed well. If you have a particular dietary requirement or beverage desire, tell us what they are.

Q. Is this movie a good way to meet girls? A. Have you even read the script? There are no girls in it.

Q. I have the new-found dread that I have to come up with my own costume, don't I? A. Maybe. Probably. At least part of it. We'll have some things, but not everything. Again, we'll discuss. We have some pieces and things for some costumes but we need to save money for food. Do you have a nice tutu? Pink?

Q. Is movie-making all about the food on set? A. Technically, it's about the coffee, but food is very important.

Q. Will there be a makeup artist? I have to look extra pretty. A. No. You're responsible for your own non sfx makeup. We will have some powder on set, however, to dust you down should you start to "glow".

Q. I just realized that you're making a movie like off-off-off Broadway theater. I'm going to be sweeping the floor, aren't I? A. How are you at gaffing? Can you do craft services? There are some openings in the art department...

Q. Where is the latest version of the script? A. http://www.pandoramachine.com/films/0701/.

Q. Do I die a gristly death? A. Your death is ghastly. Big difference.

Q. How do I die? A. You are devoured by mutants. Actually, a bullet to the head. Oh heck. I don't remember. Look at the script again. Oh, you die by ________________

Q. OK, I'm in. A. I knew you'd say that.

Q. Do I get a gun? A. If you do, it'll be a big one!

Q. What is your business plan for this picture? A. We're casting you in it, waiting for you to become a huge movie star, and then cashing in.

Q. You're blogging about me, aren't you? A. http.//empiricalpleasures.blogspot.com

A. What is your directing style? A. "Hit your mark, say your line, quit yer whining."

Q. Oh good, I was afraid you were one of those directors who didn't know how to communicate with actors. A. What? I'm sorry, were you saying something?

A. Enough about you, what about me? Can I get material for my reel? A. Stop by any time and demand scenes as we're editing and we'll roll them off for you.

Q. Who all is acting in this movie? A. A bunch of bad actors. You're the only good one. Thank goodness you're here. Don't tell the others I said that about them. I have to keep up the ruse that they're as wonderful as you. Please, please don't ever leave me.

Q. We're not really making a movie. This is all the beginning of some kind of weird cult, isn't it? Or perhaps a sick co-dependent relationship. I just don't have the room for you in my life! A. I'm promising you a future of aliens and androids, what more do you want?

Q. OK, OK, I give in! What do I need to do next? A. send me your measurements (shoe size, pants, shirt, jacket) if you haven't already.

Q. Do you love me, do you really love me? A. Yes. You and you alone. Don't tell the others. I haven't told them yet that you're the only one for me.

Q. This F.A.Q. has actually found a way to get weirder. What's next? A. Don't worry, we're almost done.

Q. What's up with your last movies? A. If you haven't checked them out yet, here are trailers for our previous two films. http.//www.pandoramachine.com/films/. Pandora Machine is still available at some Blockbusters and on Netflix. Millennium Crisis has sold pretty well overseas and should be available on US home video early next year.

"Fears" and "Somebody Wrote Me"

I keep being afraid I look like Alfred Molina. I mean, with different hair and less bushy eyebrows. But as I grow older, I think I just keep looking more like him.

--

Asking about our policy for screenplay submissions. He had a horror/comedy he'd completed. This is what I wrote back:

Hi,

We don't have a policy on screenplay submissions. The fact is, we are a tiny tiny production company -- too small to actually have any kind of working capital to be regularly looking for screenplays to produce. If I wanted to be flippant I'd say something like "send the screenplay with a check for $150,000 and we'll produce it for you"!

But giving you a serious answer: we have films we're trying to produce over the next couple years (for much much less than $150,000 a piece -- heck, combined they won't cost that and we'd feel lucky if combined our distributors grossed that! ;-) And my preference is for sci-fi oriented material anyway.

You might try the Asylum ( www.theasylum.cc ) although I know that for some reason distributors generally don't like horror/comedies so producers are reluctant to make them. I think that there have been some horror/comedy movies which failed miserably which has everyone shying away from them.

In any case, good luck with your screenplay and check out the Asylum forums on their web site (and David Latt's MySpace page for his blog, which is very informative regarding the micro-budget studio "biz".)

Best Regards,

Drew

Arming Up

We have three new six-shooters from Brian. We need to make/modify holsters for them.

New Rates

Pandora Machine Voiceover Demo Recordings
At Manhattan Theatresource

Our new rates are $150/hour. Voiceover clients will receive two audio CD's (no extra charge) and an .mp3 file by email.

A typical commercial voiceover demo is between 1:00 (one minute) and 1:30 (a minute and a half). That's 5 or 6 pieces of copy edited together with music and occasional sound effects. If there is particular music the client wants to use, the client might want to bring it to the session with him/her.

If the client is well-prepared the recording will normally take 45 minutes to an hour and the edit/mix takes about an hour for a two-hour total session ($300).