the friedorange years

Damn, still have more of my assignments to do. Freedom on Monday. Rarr. I am going to bed early and waking up before sunrise tomorrow to work on them. You know what? I wish we could do conversational exams. I'm sure they have them.

Like interviews, but ones in which you just sit there and talk to them for half an hour. Like you get to pick your conversational style (fast, subtextual, on-the-nose, boring, cozy), and then you go in and the examiners have all been trained to converse in different ways, and as long as you hit all the necessary points during the conversation and argue your point well (or prove to them that you have a good knowledge of the material and a personal response to it), you pass. It would also be really cool to have a little beeper thing at the side too, so every time you earn points, you hear a 'ding' and then you see a bar going up on a massive screen. Then every time you said something stupid or said a fact wrong you get a 'bzzzz' sound and your bar goes down, and you have a time limit to get your points. When you get it up to a certain number, you keep going - and you can always revisit stuff, e.g. backtrack in the conversation and go, 'Oh by the way, there was something I forgot to say earlier about...'

Of course, this would disadvantage the people who spoke slower, so instead of a time limit, maybe you could have a verbal word limit. How funny would that be? Some guy walks out of the exam and wasted 20% of his words on Um's and Uh's. And they could give you a certain amount of words as small-talk buffer, so say the word limit is like 5000, and they give you 200 words for small-talk, so you go in and say, 'Hey there, how's it going? Nice weather eh? Thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about why it's so sunny today since it is a geography exam...'

Right, I better sleep. Night.

Extra work. Haha... it's exactly like Extras. The scene was this tattoo expo - and we were supposed to be people walking around being 'wow-ed' by the tattoos and portfolios on display. Met new people, although it was weird - a lot of awkward 'um right' moments (just like in Extras) when you just sit there talking to a random stranger and you run out of stuff to talk about, then they crack a really inappropriate joke and you just sit there thinking, 'How the hell do I get out of this?' Awkward silence for 10 seconds. In the end you see someone else (who you don't know) and pretend to know them, say hi and walk as fast as you can away from the freaky conversationalist. Repeat that for a few hours.

Running for A Thousand Apologies - Shuchi and Sarina's sketch-comedy pilot yesterday was fantastic. Really relaxed and smooth shoot - not a lot of a set ups and funny actors. Sweeet. We had a really small crew - but the simplicity of the scenes meant there was never really a problem or anything going wrong.

Assignments. Making progress. See you in a bit.

Tired. Home. Yay. Sleep time. Around 5000 words to get done before next Monday for various assignments.

Went to Strata last night. I missed the first five sixths of it. Gloria Rolando came to Film Production Group to give a talk. Really good. Be Sharp See Flat premiere has sold out!

Summer! Means wearing shorts. And running around in the sun. Ahahahaha.

Running for A Thousand Apologies (comedy sketch show) tomorrow! Then Extra-ing on The Tattooist (a feature film) on Friday! That'll be the first film-related dollar I earn.

Tired. Sleep time. Night. Take care everyone, hope assignments are going well. See you on the other side.

New season of The Office and Grey's Anatomy starting! Yes! Started watching Naruto too. Hmm... I really can't afford to start watching so many shows right now.

I've got two major assignments due at the beginning of next week and I've only just started. The good thing is I've laid the groundwork for both of them. Now I'll just need to put in the hours.

Japanese folktales! We're doing them in class this week and they are fantastic. The weather was beautiful today. Summer!

I think that's enough exclamation marks for one post. Night.

Weekend! Handed in the two films for 15 Mins yesterday. Went to Parakai Springs in the evening to relax. Finally! The end of a filming period. My total involvement with projects for 15 Mins:

Crime Fighting Bureau - Camera Operator
Back to You - Director of Photography
Jusdice - Director/Producer/Editor
You Broke My Camera! - Director/Producer/Editor/Music
The Deepest Spoon in the Drawer - Duke (cast), Best Boy
Ze Square - Mr. Circle (cast), Light disc

On that subject:


Be Sharp See Flat, the Bollywood musical, will be screening at the Academy on October 10th, 8pm. Tickets are $5. Do come. There will be no door sales, so you'll need to book tickets. How? Email besharpseeflat@gmail.com for more information. Or talk to me and I will hook you up with some tickets. Great musical fun and including some violin stuff from yours truly. Walk, don't run. Tickets will sell out.

I should clarify my Lady in the Water post - it was so bad it was good, not actually good.

The new John Mayer album! Ahhh, way less pop stuff in this album, I was disappointed at first. This is not a boyish album like the first two - but it has great continuity in terms of style. Lots of cool blues riffs. And what a great voice. Song of the album: The Heart of Life. It defines the album. Arrr rarrr, such a good song.

See you!

Arr rarr. Finished rendering mystery movie. 15 Mins deadline is tomorrow. The fight scene still needs a name and some tweaking. Making another random 'crap' movie tonight to be entered into 15 Mins as well. I think we're shooting at Britomart, maybe we'll get kicked out.

Having a 303 meeting with Shuchi today to refine our step outline for the final assignment.

What else has been happening? Oh, I got cheap clothes of Trade Me. I started watching the new season of Family Guy. Hmm, I'm not laughing as much. It's still funny, but there's something weiiiiird 'bout the show this year. Hmm.

Lady in the Water - A+

Academy today. Went pretty well, screw-ups here and there, but the programme itself was quite nice. Dinner was good, I didn't eat a lot, but it was fairly enjoyable.

Hmm. I don't know if I've made the right decision signing myself up for another year of Academy. I could be totally screwing up my schedule and over-committing. Um. I really need to sleep on this.

I'm getting that feeling again. The almost holidays feeling. It's crazy, but I feel like next year is going to be a year of incredible change. It's so weird, in 1st year I thought things would be really different, and they were. Then I thought things wouldn't change as much this year, but I was wrong. I know it sounds kind of stupid to not expect change - but I just didn't think things would move so fast. It's really at the point now where I have to start thinking about what I want to do with my life.

I know it seems like I already know - make films, enjoy music, move people. But I mean, that's the big picture. Sometimes I wonder about what I really want to do with what I have, and what I'm gonna be doing to survive in the near future. I'd like to move out in '08. I'd like to earn a decent salary. I'd like to pay off my student loan. I'd like to do something I enjoy. I'd like to make films or make music or do something fun. But right out of Uni - what?

I'm sure more study is an option - it's always an option. But is it just the token back-up plan? More study? I know I want to keep learning, and I'm sure I will. But I've never been a true academic. So is theoretical post-grad really for me?

I also want to travel. I want to just get away and clear my head. Think for a while. Go somewhere I haven't been before and just think. Be anonymous and know no one. For a little while. That's all I need.

I think Uni has so far been the best period of my life. But it's just amazing to wake up one day and go: This is the beginning of a chapter of my life that doesn't involve social structures. I mean, sure, you're always bound by where you work/where you live - but in the beginning it's essentially kindergarten-primary-intermediate-highschool-Uni. Then job. Then it's just this long period until retirement. The job part of the story takes something like 40 years. Or more. So it's just this big massive thing. I'm feeling apprehensive, in a good way. I just wanna know where I'm going. This kind of reminds me of choosing subjects back at school, then choosing Uni, then choosing major. It's always choosing stuff. If I could go back, of course I would've done things differently. I think I would've done music in school. I would've probably played more sports. And mucked around more. But for now I'll think about today. And the future.

Maybe that's why high school reunions are so fascinating. That's why I wanna make coming-of-age films.

I just realised today.



I think I'm growing up.

There were a few comments I only discovered today, so I'll reply to them here:

Kat (on Naruto) - yes, you're right, I really don't care if a film is artsy or not. I like anything that I enjoy.

Reluctant Kerry (on covering Electric President) - oooo, I do like Ten Thousand Lines, but I don't think I could resist from doing Grand Machine No. 12.

:o)

As a side note, I just realised today that there are actually quite a few people who read this and sneakily don't write anything in the comments or tagboard. I don't really mind, of course - but it scares me sometimes when people say, 'I read your blog.' Spooky stuff. Ahhh, we're back at that topic again - how much do I say here?

Well, you know I like making films and that I like music. And that I live in NZ. And who my friends are. Um.

My grey-ish shoes are falling apart. I've got my eyes on new Etnies, but I'm gonna wait till I finish off all my miscellaneous projects before I buy 'em. Summer! Ahhh! I can't wait.

AJ's birthday/Back to You wrap party last night. Yes! I'm damn proud of the film - most of the continuity errors are actually not noticeable unless you're a filmmaker or you've seen the film fifty times. It was really one of those massively-transformational filmmaking experiences for everyone involved - esp. for me in terms of lighting - went from knowing nothing to knowing just a little bit about cinematography. I gotta do more lighting. It's so rewarding to get good shots - and I need more practice at it.

-------

I've decided on my next project.

A chase. Not sure if it's gonna be on foot, on bicycles or on cars. But a chase.

I remember having this really good feeling when I decided to commit to making a fight scene, and I'm feeling really good now. So for the holidays, the first thing I'm gonna do (filmmaking related) is a chase sequence. That's all.

:o)

Academy of Strings concert tomorrow! Last concert of the year and the annual dinner afterwards. I'm pretty excited. I've decided to do Academy for another year - I'll make time for it. Mmm.

Night.

Fight scene: 100% edited.
Sound effects: 100% done.
Music: 10% done.

Woooo fun fun fun, productivity. Ahhhh I love filmmaking.

Side notes: I got a haircut yesterday. Good. I also got this invite for a 'high achievers' party for the FTVMS Department - I'm happy but - my GPA isn't that high? Methinks it was sent out to people in Production Papers... or to a very large group. Hmm. But I'm glad though (that I'm not doing badly).

I hate autofocus. I am never ever copping out from manual again. I am loving the fight scene as it is - but autofocus really sucks.

You all heard about Lonelygirl15 thing yeah? I find it fantastic - it should give people ideas in the future for making web-based episodic fictional-reality television. Many possibilities - it's not quite mockumentary, but it is. You could do episodes following bank robberies, sporting events, musicians, family blogs - the possibilities are endless. And plus, it's inexpensive filmmaking.

Fight scene: 90% edited.

Waking up early tomorrow to touch up the sound and start on the music. It's going to be so fun.

I received my lens cap yesterday. Fairly standard stuff. Prison Break! So far the episodes have been very strong. Three good ones out of four. Family Guy! New season!

The 303 screenplay I'm writing with AJ is really taking off - crazy possibilities, but just limited time again. Rarrr.

Fight scene: 50% edited.

Fight scene: 20% edited.

First day back eh. It was pretty good. Got my essay back for folktales - 88%. Wow the guy liked my puns. Everything seemed pretty drowsy though.

Mystery movie is complete. Running time one minute. Gonna start editing the fight scene tonight.

I spent the entire morning looking up Naruto on Wikipedia. Hmm... maybe I should start watching it.

Wooo, mid-semester break is over!

This marks the end of my 'unfiltered crewing' phase. The coming week will be the toughest for me, and I'm sure for most people too - lots of assignments and crazy Uni-related things to get done. I've not touched an of my Uni work this break. How was everyone's break?

For me it was the end of a crazy learning experience that started in late July - the notion of committing myself to crew on as many student film shoots as I can, no questions asked. I can safely say that at this point one can learn so much more from crewing than from directing. You get to tackle a variety of tasks, work with different producing and directing habits, do manual labour without always giving your opinion, learn to collaborate, try genres and styles you wouldn't normally try, listen and learn, experiment, muck around and form working relationships with many many artists.

I don't know if I'm gonna be doing a big short film until summer. Right now the most urgent thing is to finish touching up the mystery movie, edit and do the sound effects and score for the fight scene exercise, complete two assignments, one presentation, four technology related blog entries, another poetry portfolio and write my 10 minute screenplay. That should take me most of the six weeks... and by November I'll have to start studying for exams. I wish everyone the best of luck for the last quarter of the year... have fun and don't stress! Everything will be ok, as long as you stay true to yourself and stay healthy. Drink water and sleep well. Work and play. Follow your instincts.

:oP

See you around!

I just got home. Yes, it is 4 AM.

Starting at 5 PM, I spent a total of 10 hours in the corridor of level 1 of KMC recording music for Be Sharp See Flat. Quite literally hours of violin playing. This morning was the first time I practised violin at home in almost a year. It was amazing to contribute to the project. I got to a point where more practise just couldn't combat my exhaustion so we finally decided to stop, but I'm proud of all the string parts that we recorded for the songs.

Oh my God. I am actually seeing little flashing light creatures running around on my keyboard and over the table top.

*falls asleep*

Fight scene shoot today. Learnt a lot, shooting my first action scene. We started about an hour late but we still finished on time. I'm not sure how well I did in terms of watching out for continuity. Also, I didn't innovate in terms of shot choice and composition, sticking to the functional (so we ended up with pretty unremarkable shot design). However, we got enough coverage and the moves on their own had quite some punch, so I think once it's edited it'll make enough of an impact.

Thanks to everyone who made this happen (Brendon, Veronica, Jade, Jack, AJ, James, Samwee) - I can't wait to do another fight/action scene. Key things I want to do in the future:

• have an even shorter fight so I can concentrate on better shot design
• set it indoors so I can try out more expressionistic lighting set-ups
• have more rehearsals
• have more exaggerated characterisation by playing with depth-of-field, set design and costume
• shoot somewhere where I can do overhead shots
• learn more about martial arts styles on screen and working that into the choreography
• wirefu

AJ also punched Jack (i.e. unintentional) and we caught in on camera. It was insane.

Henry's bday gathering last night - was fantastic! Zigity (a Cranium game) is such a good balance of chance and strategy. The Thai food was sweet too.

I haven't had enough sleep in so long, tonight's gonna be the night.

Night.

The reshoot of the break-up scene went really well. It's probably the best DP-ing experience I've had so far. The difference between what we were doing when we first shot it (a month ago) and what we did last night was staggering. It was pretty close to a 'near perfect' functional lighting system, but we faltered on one side of the shot-reverses.

Basically you take the scene from the two sides of the conversation, and for the second side we were pretty close to having a nice backlight, i.e. separating the actor from the background, but it was getting close to the end of the evening (and cars kept coming) so we rushed it. So yeah, now CJ just sorta blends into the darkness - which is good I suppose if you want it to be intentional since his character's breaking up with his girlfriend in the scene. Or it could just be bad lighting.

I'm proud of this film - it's almost a tiny Be Sharp See Flat in its own right. Since the shooting days were so spread out, you can tell just how much we've improved as filmmakers from scene to scene (and it's not chronological either). What's next is exciting - it'll be less of a guinea pig for sure.

Happy Birthday Henry!

Sleep is so good. Tired tired rarrr. Today's agenda:

• Lighting tutorial at KMC.
• Shotlisting for part 1 of fight scene.
• Playing violin for some stuff in BSSF.
• Reshoot of the break-up scene in Samwee's Back to You.

Teleportation would be so cool. *wishes hard*

Just came home from Elaine's Crime Fighting Bureau cast/crew party/screening. 'Twas good, the movie had so many great lines and nice character nuances, not to mention a hilarious score and great performances. Well done to everyone involved in the making of the film! *clap clap*

Bedtime yo.

Spent most of today playing with Reason. It's awesome! It's also actually quite moderately priced compared to some other stuff I've seen around. Go Propellerhead Software!

David Manning was a fictitious movie critic made up by Sony.

"On 3 August 2005, Sony made an out-of-court settlement and agreed to refund $5 to anyone who saw Hollow Man, The Animal, The Patriot, A Knight's Tale or Vertical Limit in American theatres between 3 August 2000 and 31 October 2001."

Teehee.

NYO concert! Ahhh it was good spending time with family after a really busy month. Finished the no-sound cut of mystery film. Now I need to rent a few more martial arts films and watch 'em carefully as prep for the next short/exercise.

Prison Break is back! And oh it's good, so far anyway. William Fichtner is really cool, so well cast and exactly what the show needed.

Night.

Morning. Today - doing the score for mystery movie and taking a day off.

Saw Fearless last night. The story was alright, but the fight scenes were incredible.

I should get some breakfast eh. See you later!