the friedorange years

Hello blog reader,

This is what I wrote down on 27th Feb this year:

TO DO FOR 2006:

Short films to complete:
Orphans -march
Hands - april
Why Monkey Why -may
Untitled longer project - august

Semester 2:
work part time
get full driver’s licence
do untitled stop motion vid - october
do substantial short screenplay - november

Summer Break '07:
begin to work as production assistant

I did almost none of the things I set out to do. Yes, I finished the short film exercise in March – it was a bad film. I finished a substantial short film screenplay in October, something that I’m quite proud of, it was my first.

Instead of making the ‘Hands’ movie, I made baguette ads.
Instead of making the short films I set out to do, I made ‘Production Exercises’.
Instead of making the Why Monkey Why music video I made Sandcastles.
Instead of making a stop motion video I made a fight scene.

It’s quite surreal. I still haven’t attained my full licence. I’m not working part time either. I get a few dollars here and there, but that’s not regular income at all. Nothing’s turned out as I expected.

I never thought I’d start crewing this early, and it’s the biggest step I’ve taken this year. The other day I sat down and really worked out how many hours of filmmaking/crewing I did every year.

2004 – 10 hours of filmmaking
2005 – 35 hours of filmmaking
2006 – 250 hours of filmmaking and counting.

The above figures don’t include preproduction or post, but it shocks me how little filmmaking I was doing previously. The bulk of filmmaking I’ve done has been in the past six months, or more accurately, the past four months.

There’s conflict and there’s love. Stepping onto a set, signing up for a shoot, putting my hand up, it’s been very difficult, there’s resistance all the way. But it’s all worth it.

In the past two years I’ve met so many people like and unlike myself. I’ve been exposed to so many different filmmaking and learning philosophies, not to mention attitudes to art in general. It's been eye opening.

To wait or to not wait.
To read about filmmaking or to make films.
To make many small films or one big film.
To crew or not to crew.
To be selective or to be selected.

Not that these things are mutually exclusive, but getting the combination right is pure genius, and it’s different for everyone. I’m still tryin’ to figure it out.

It’s been two years since I started blogging, and two years since I said (rather impulsively), ‘I want to be a filmmaker.’ Well, two-thirds of this film degree is over, and I haven’t changed my mind.

friedorange
I wanted 20,000 page hits, I got 17,000.
I wanted 1,000 posts. I got 800.
I wanted to make 50 gazillion short films. I made 10, most of them experimental and bad.

I fell short on so many promises.
I lost touch with so many friends.
I invested my heart into relationships that came up empty.
I made new friends and things were good.
I found God, lost faith, slept in, laughed.
I even cried, for the first time in many, many years.

So I guess this is the part where I talk about what’s happening now. I’ve made some random short videos, and it’s nowhere near enough. I want to make more. But this is sorta the end of an era. This is the part when I say, again: Film is the life. Or television. Or music. Whatever it is. But this time, it’s a statement that I’m absolutely serious. There will still be fun times ahead, and experimentation, but yeah, it's at that point where I have to be realistic. It’s a commitment to myself, and to everyone who’s supported me all this time: I want to spend my life in the popular arts. I want to make a contribution.

So I’m gonna close the door on Effo Films and friedorange.blogspot.com. You may have noticed that during that ‘really busy’ period, blogging frequency and quality suffered. I will still have a blog. But I just won’t post as frequently. Perhaps once a week. Or once a month. Or something.

The general tone will be slightly different. And I probably won’t be ‘writing’ as much about my life. Although my life will probably show itself in various forms. The blog will be about stuff. And when I say stuff, I mean music and film specifically. Part of it is a response to the changing audience of friedorange.blogspot.com over the last two years. And my inability to post as openly about what I ate and so on because of that. friedorange.blogspot.com will still be online. But this will be the last post. Blah. So I guess it’s officially an archive of 2004-2006. Two years in the life of Dennis. Yay.

Thanks for an awesome two years. ’05 things were moving so fast. ’06 so many things happened. The drama I thought only happened in movies, it happens for real. All of it has fuelled me to be a better artist than I am today. I’m just starting out, but I think I know what stories I want to tell. Had to grow up fast, but at the same time I’m still immature and selfish and all that.

Thanks for being with me while I grew up just a little. And to my friends who tagboard and hang around, thanks for all the great conversations, and for your great blogging. Specifically: David, Ray, Henry, Kat, Helen, Wills, Steve, Sonny, Simon, Mischaberg. If I forgot you, apologies.

…

By the way, this isn’t my Ear in Review (a term coined by Ray btw). You’ll be able to read that later. That is, if you wish to join me at…

ethanwaters.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Dennis

nDeva isn't working for me, and hasn't been for the last few days. Hmm, dunno what my marks are.

Started training with dumbbells. Going ok.

Wrote out the barebones skeleton for the three scenes I'd be using for the acting exercises. Got lots of responses back, great! Will write the scenes out in screenplay format tomorrow. Also started writing some notes for the actors and for directing... so far it's been really helpful for getting my head around the characters.

Prison Break and Lost are taking a break. Long breaks.

Rarr, SJS still not responding very slowly. Not good.

Angel Demon postponed until March.

Rikky's farewell thing tonight. Was good. Soccer then poker then nice food and Mafia. One of the biggest Eastie 'gatherings' in a long while.

Going into Uni to sort out more SJS stuff tomorrow. I'm not gonna stop until I get a response from 'em. I cut my nails today, meaning hindered guitaring for the next few weeks. Voice is coming back, yay. Good night.

Just saw Rocky yesterday. Good movie. Now this morning I saw the trailer for the new Rocky Balboa.

After watching the trailer: This is so stupid.

-_-

On the other hand I also saw the trailers for Zodiac, Evan Almighty, The Simpsons Movie and so on, which were better.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

:o)

Favourite tracks: Once More With Feeling, Lighthouse Keeper, War Of The Worlds.

Damien Rice - B-Sides. Also pretty good. Strongest track: The Professor & La Fille Danse.

Just heard that Moonlight Shorts will be on hiatus for 2007. Awww. Ahhh well.

Finally saw the Spiderman 3 and Harry Potter 5 trailers. Good good good.

Today was a pretty productive day, yay. Went and did my WoF early in the morning, got a few things changed, all is good with the car.

Finished reading this:

Well, KFC. Seems like it's becoming a little bit too convenient.

The Departed. Thanks for the ticket David! First impressions eh. Good. Quality movie, can't really argue with that objectively. Powerful and intense film. I walked out of the theatre dodging people at every corner for fear getting a bullet in my head. I think that sums up the film pretty well.

In short: People get killed.

There were a few significant improvements on the original Infernal Affairs. Like the tightening of subplots. More backstory. A more compelling villain in Costello (Nicholson). However, I think it wasn't the remake I was hoping for. While the ending is slightly different (the specifics of 'who kills who'), it's not the one I was hoping for. Sure, the right people get 'knocked off', but still in a pretty convoluted way.

I don't think any filmmaker (including the directors of Infernal Affairs) would've chosen an ending out of carelessness - so I respect that. This is the ending Scorsese wanted, and so, The Departed is a movie about street justice, through and through.

But the screenplay needs a lot of work. Many flaws of the original are still in The Departed. Convolution here and there. Nice set-ups that are not paid off in a way that doesn't really add to the story. Elimination of the cool morse code 'gimmick' from the original. Jumps in logic. A pretty good subplot that sort of died near the end. Or died before it took off. But yeah, minor complaints that you'd only pick out if you've seen the original.

The style is a tad 'showy'. But go see the films, both of them. They're both good.

Japanese 'Shall We Dance?' good eh. Read this book yesterday:





Hmmm, not a bad book. Recommended, but more as an attitude pep talk than a technical manual or artistic guide. Student Job Search! So many cool jobs. I've applied for like fifteen gazillion, I hope I get a reply from one of them.

Zombie marathon. Dawn of the Deads. Fantastic films. See them now!

Slither - funny but stupid film.

Clean Linen - Sensitive filmmaking at its best. Thumbs up for original storytelling through sound and success in treading on that line of subtle controversy.

'Film HQ' flat in Ponsonby - basically where 90% of all film student related functions are being held. Spacious, clean (at the moment) and stocked with goodies.

Time for bed. Started reading Boleslavsky again. Hard to understand but yeah, I'll get it eventually. Read read read.