Bringing A Film To Life

The life cycle of a film, in pictures:

The Script

This is when it goes from an idea in the writer's head to words on a page.

The Storyboard

This is when the writer, who in this particular case has very limited artistic skills, draws a stick figure picture to illustrate the image that they see in their head, based on the script they wrote.

The Workprint

This is a rough demo of the film where the writers are playing the parts of the characters, just to get an idea of what the scene might look like.

The Actual Footage

This is when the real actors are being filmed actually performing the scene.

Filmmaking! Fun, huh?

Day One Of Filming Is A Wrap!

A fun and successful day of shooting two scenes (plus part of a montage) for Hold My Beer was had this past Sunday!

(That's me on the right side of the picture, practicing my "film-bending" moves.)

Thanks to our talented cast and crew, everything went smoothly (despite a few Living In Oblivion-type moments) and we were able to wrap an hour-and-a-half earlier than expected. We were also treated to a delicious lunch! Day Two is scheduled for early May, so in the meantime, I'll be holed up in the editing bay...

More updates to come!

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Props For Hold My Beer

That's right, dear readers - as followers of this blog, you are being treated to an exclusive sneak peek at props for Hold My Beer (props as in objects for use in a film, not props as in "respect," or whatever the kids say. Do kids still use "props" in that way? I'm guessing not, but who knows, I'm old).

Here is a book titled "So You Want to Brew Beer?" by the esteemed and award-winning homebrewing expert Elyk Treblig. Unusual name; I think he's from somewhere in Eastern Europe? Actually, no, this is not a "real" book. It's a fake jacket over a hardcover book that, while real, has nothing whatsoever to do with beer.

And here is a fake homebrewing kit that is basically a poster made from a picture of my stovetop slapped on to the front of a random cardboard box. Show business!

These props will be used in a few scenes of Hold My Beer that we're going to start shooting... this weekend?! Anyway, when the film comes out, you can say that you saw these here first!

TV Roundup, Episode Seven

Holy recaps, it's been about twenty months since the last episode of TV Roundup! Volumes Six and Seven of the Joel Suzuki series hadn't even come out yet. But don't worry, I've been watching lots of TV shows during that time. Here are some of the most recent (beware mild spoilers):

Resident Alien

Dear Show,

Where have you been all my life?* Now that we've met, I can't imagine being without you. You're witty and funny and you do a masterful job of balancing your wacky sci-fi plot with heartfelt human interest morals and side-stories. Your writing is sharp, your acting is impeccable, and your cameos are to die for ("Oh, my!"). Your title card gags are on par with the Simpsons couch gags and always make me laugh out loud. Even your occasional continuity errors are adorable. Also, I am super impressed by how you're able to juggle and intertwine so many different themes and threads - it's an alien invasion! it's a murder mystery! it's a family drama! - in such an effortless and engaging manner. Sometimes I imagine your writers playing a game where the writer of one episode will introduce a storyline and then hand it off to the writer of the next episode while saying "try to resolve this!" and the other writer says "challenge accepted!" Anyway, I hope you go on for a long, long, long time. Just, please, don't jump the shark.

Love,

A Guy Who Writes Love Letters to TV Shows

* The bass player in my band recommended this show to me when it first came out back in 2021, but due to silliness/laziness on my part, I never got around to checking it out until the first two seasons recently dropped on Netflix. And thank the Alpha Draconians they did.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix Live-Action Version)

Look, I understand why some people didn't like it. But that's not a debate I'm going to get into here; there are plenty of other places on the internet for that. Suffice it to say that I, as a huge fan of the original animated show (watching this adaptation reminded me of just how huge an influence the original show was on the Joel Suzuki series), really enjoyed it. And thank you, Show, for the "my cabbages!" and "Pipinpadaloxicopolis" references. Looking forward to Seasons 2 and 3, which are apparently going to happen. Yay, Toph!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I'm a fan of romantic comedies. And James Bond movies (mostly the Daniel Craig era). So I figured I would like this show. And I did. Even though I haven't seen the original 2005 movie. Maybe I should. Also, Maya Erskine is hilarious and amazing.

Hazbin Hotel

An animated show about the princess of Hell running a rehab hotel for sinners that started as an indie production and is now on Amazon Prime? And it's a musical? Yes, please! Every time the characters broke out into song (with lyrics that usually included a fair amount of swear words), I always said out loud to my TV, "this show is delightful."

Star Trek: Prodigy

To me, this show started out more Star Wars than Star Trek, but then eventually became much more "trekky" as it went along - maybe even sometimes too much, with generous helpings of fan-service-y references to previous Trek series and a sense that it's almost a continuation of Voyager. But I still liked it anyway.

Until next time!

Hold My Beer Crew Meeting

In preparation for the start of filming next month (!), we held a Hold My Beer crew-only meeting this past Sunday.

When I was a production assistant on another film set last September, one thing I noticed was how seamlessly the crew there worked together. That was due in part to their experience, not only individually, but with each other. While our crew does have a few people with extensive filming experience, we've never worked together before, so the main purpose of the meeting was to go over our methodology and get on the same page.

One of the items we had to decide on was how we're going to, in filmmaking parlance, "call the roll," which is when people say cool things like "roll camera" and "scene one, take one," and "action." There are different ways to do this, but we settled on what is a pretty standard approach according to the research I did (which involved reading numerous websites as well as watching the movie Living In Oblivion).

We also went over the fact that, this being a low-budget production with limited resources, we're just going to have to do the very best we can with what we have. This means focusing on stuff that really matters, like sound, lighting, and performance, while possibly letting go of other things that would be nice to have but aren't completely crucial, like airtight continuity (after all, thanks to this experience, I now catch continuity errors in big-budget productions all the time).

Anyway, while we won't really be sure of how things are going to go until we actually get on set, I feel a little more prepared, and I'm really grateful for everyone's participation and support.

More updates to come!

February Nostalgia Post

"Natsukashii" in Japanese means nostalgia, mostly of the positive sort. Now, I'm not normally one for living in the past*, but every so often, when I have nothing else to blog about I'm feeling wistful during the waning days of winter**, I like to look back at what I was doing during the same time in prior years. Join me for the journey, won't you?

(pictured above: lucky penny from February 2022)

February 23, 2023

"Volume Seven Status Update: Can't Blog, Reading"

Wow, I was still working on Volume Seven? Feels like that book has already been out for a long time now. Maybe that's what happens when you switch from writing to filmmaking? Or, you know, time warp. Yeah, probably time warp.

February 24, 2022

"TV Roundup, Episode Five"

I guess Brews Brothers and As We See It weren't picked up for additional seasons? That's too bad, I liked those shows.

February 25, 2021

"Anime Roundup: Big Name Edition"

You know, I tried, but I just couldn't get into One Piece. Gasp, I know, right?

February 20, 2020

"Quickie Status Updates"

I love this part: "the band and I are making plans to start livestreaming portions of our Sunday afternoon practices on Facebook." Ha! Ha ha ha!

Okay, that's good enough.

* The past, present, and future are all the same, anyway. Time is an illusion

** Alliteration score: 7/10

Random Cat Picture Placeholder Post

This is a cat hiding under a sweater jacket.

"Heh, heh! They'll never find me under here!"