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.

Yo. The in augural Film Ball last night. Was a great way to finish off the Uni year, very emotional night, yes yes.



Bought Rocky on DVD. Couldn't find The Shawshank Redemption in every store I checked. Rocky will do for now.

Final BSSF screening, good. Karaoke, hilarious. However at this moment I am officially worn out. Sleep is so good, I need to replenish otherwise I will probably just fuzz out. I am thankful that there is nothing going on tomorrow. Phew.

Angel Demon - most definitely the most serious/formally run student film that I've crewed on, can't wait for it to take off... it's shooting from November 26th-December 2nd. Sweeet.

Had meeting with Shuchi about the development of the holiday screenwriting workshop, and she had some really good ideas which kind of gave us (AJ and I) a new perspective on things. Yep. The workshops will still go ahead but will be very different - and will almost be more of an underground thing as opposed to a big affair. It'll be hardcore, solid pushing the boundaries (at least for us 'students') as opposed to treading old ground. Will need to get some good R&R in before I launch into that though.

Saw Scream. Yep. What a movie. I also need to buy Shawshank Redemption. Will be my first holiday film analysis project.

Going to the auditions for Elaine's lesbian film tomorrow. No, I'm not auditioning for a part. Although I think Jack is.

:o

Night.

FPG End of Year Shindig
A wonderful evening of food and memories. Seniors graduation awards. Music. Relaxation.

:o)

Started writing the first acting exercise.

Times are changing. What's happening next year? What's going on? No, not time for the Ear in Review yet, but yar it's coming.

:o)

Went to Stillwater today as part of a recce for the Angel/Demon project (formerly called Chocolate Cake). This is the movie I'm cam-op-ing for. The location is really nice, but it's about a 90 minute drive from east Auckland. Yep.

Still learning how to play Heart of Life. Getting there but it'll take time.

I really need to get away some time. Need to do some thinking. Mmm. Night.

I don't usually post lyrics but...

If it can be broke then it can be fixed, if it can be fused then it can be split
It's all under control
If it can be lost then it can be won, if it can be touched then it can be turned
All you need is time

We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?

A sense of purpose and a sense of skill, a sense of function but a disregard
We will not be the first, we won't
You said you were going to conquer new frontiers,
Go stick your bloody head in the jaws of the beast

We promised the world, we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?

Breath in, breath out

So here we are reinventing the wheel
I'm shaking hands with a hurricane
It's a colour that I can't describe,
It's a language I can't understand
Ambition, tearing out the heart of you
Carving lines into you
Dripping down the sides of you

We will not be the last

-------

Finding Bloc Party very addictive right now. And the Tunng cover of Pioneers is really good!

Internet screwed up eh. Took me a long time to get to this page.

Strange feeling. Two thirds of the way through a degree. I am feeling good, but suddenly really tired. Like a whole semester of exhaustion is settling in. I just found out today that they are apparently not offering FTVMS 311 next year. Feeling really bummed out about that, but they are offering 201, so I'll still take that, which'll be cool. The folktales exam went quite well, I left half an hour earlier like usual. Kind of ran out of stuff to say but yeah, happy I got it done.

Argh, internet not working properly, will have to select those YouTube clips later.

Rarr rarr, next week is a crazy week. More posting tomorrow.

I was gonna post some photos of me right after I finished my exam. But then I decided not to cos I look kind of silly.

^^

Morning. IC. Drove in. Still tired. Ahhh. But thanks guys for the good luck txts! Really made my morning ^^

I'm gonna post up some Hanson videos later today... after my exam hehe. Yip yip.

Oh nose, why am I talking like Ray, adopting the 'yip yip' and the ^^? Hmm.

Some really funny stuff you hear:

'OMG You've got to be kidding me, my jacket isn't even waterproof.' At least you have a jacket.

'I have a stomach ache I don't think I can do my exam.'

Hah. Hahah. Hah.

Studying finished! Time for bed. Yep, the last exam.

Had dinner with Ajita and Yuen to send them off for holidays. I also had something happen a few hours earlier that was quite amusing. Basically what happened was I bumped into someone I hadn't seen in a long time and saw the expression on their face - which was basically identical to the expression I had on my face. We didn't talk much, but the fact that we shared the same expression was subtextually funny yet we both didn't mention it. I'm sure you've had situations when that's happened.

Funny walking to my car in Parnell today, there was a rubbish bin that started flying around - basically it was full of rubbish and it started spraying stuff all over the road, then the bin went and started ramming itself into the back of a parked car several times. Was kind of a funny sight to look at, but probably not so funny for whoever owned the car. Driving around was quite weird as well as the car was doing a weird bobbing-shaking dance all over the road. Tomorrow better not be this windy.

Right, have a good night.

Study half done! Woohoo!

I'm not sure if I've screwed myself over. I came in at noon to study for tomorrow's exam and I still haven't started studying. Uh oh. Spent the entire time looking at film sound stuff online. Rarr.

It's been a long time since I've been in the Uni Arts Labs. I kind of like the atmosphere. Quiet. C'mon Dennis, just do it. Just do it.

Last exam on Friday. One day left to start studying. Spent out 5 hours today on a new mix of Present Shadows, the song I was doing for CJ's anime intro. Taking a long time, but I'm learning a lot in the process about recording and the how of getting something to sound good, or at least 'acceptable'. EQ'ing takes a lot of time, and I am still really inexperienced, but I'm glad I'm doing something new.

Sent in my application for FutureGrad. Seems like a pretty cool service. Picked up my light disc, it's actually pretty big, oops. I guess it's time for me to talk about holiday filmmaking-related plans now that the semester is almost over.

- For starters AJ and I are planning to run a series of six screenwriting workshops, the aim of which will be to create an environment conducive to good honest feedback and supportive writing discussion. We're hoping that this will lead to the formation of solid writing/critique relationships and also instill in us an attitude of no compromise when it comes to writing... teehee. These workshops will be running weekly and should wrap up in January some time.

- In terms of upping my craft, I will be splitting the filmmaking up into three different sections

1. Directing Actors - this will be intrinsically linked to the writing too, and will be my primary focus for this entire holidays as it is by far my weakest area
2. What you see - I won't be doing much innovation with lighting, but I will be attempting to light, shoot and colour correct every exercise/short film I do properly with the aim of making all of them 'broadcast legal'. Aside from this, I think I mentioned recently that Production Design is a new area of filmmaking that I've yet to explore, so that will also be encorporated into this.
3. What you hear - I will be EQ'ing and mixing every exercise/short film I do from now on via proper procedures, regardless of how short the exercise or how crap the microphones I use. This also applies to paying more attention and respect to location sound (again regardless of the kind of gear available).

It'll be hard to do all of these things and I'll have to be realistic, but yeah, it should be a lot of fun.

Side notes about music: The Killers' new album is an absolute treat. May have said it before but yeah, I'm not sick of it yet, it's got very good playability. I also started listening to Radical Face, the solo project of Ben Cooper (one of the members of Electric President). He's got a pretty funky site here.

Anyway, have a good night. Exams are winding down for everyone, hope everyone's had a good semester. Have a great holiday and I'll see you around!

:o)

I just watched Howl's Moving Castle again - it wasn't just magical, it was moving. It's such a beautiful and wonderful world and really great concepts nostalgic moments that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but just watching it again made me realise how hugely bloated the story is.

The characterisations and motivations have really big problems, and it sorta is a pity because the film looks and feels like such a fantastic experience - but as a story it almost shoots itself in the foot. I guess the main thing about it is the underdeveloped, or rather the 'confused' character arcs and also how neat the ending is. I just read the Wikipedia entry on the original novel, and it seems like there are some really key things in the book that kind of got lost in translation. Then again the novel plot summary on Wikipedia doesn't make much sense either. Don't get me wrong though, I still like the film, but darn it.

Wine tasting eh? Just might become a hobby.

Bought a light disc. Picking it up tomorrow. The location shooting student filmmaker's best friend. Well not really. Gaffer tape is really the number one thing. Then after that maybe water and pizza. Then after that potato chips. Not sure where a collapsable reflector is on the list, but it's darn useful in many ways as a lighting control. I decided against getting the 5-in-1 version cos I basically couldn't afford it, but also cos for the price of one 5-in-1 reflector I could get two reflectors which would mean I would be able to cover four types (as there's one surface on each side) - all of the different surfaces except translucent, which is sort of a different thing altogether. So I've rationalised my decision.

I used darn twice in this post.

24 HOUR MOVIE MARATHON 2006 (Auckland)

Overall a really good experience - according to many, last year's selection was a lot better, but there were still several films this year that made it quite worthwhile. It started at around 5:30pm on Saturday and from that point on they played 13 films back-to-back (with short breaks in between of course). Generally the films can be categorised into the following categories:

1. Old/rare films that were good
2. Old/rare films that were so bad they were good
3. Old/rare films that were so bad that they a waste of time
4. New films that were terrible but very entertaining

This year the balance wasn't very good, so there were quite a few films in category 3 and only one film in category 4. The films: (I may have gotten the order wrong)

Lady Terminator
So bad it was good. Definitely a highlight. Massive Hit.

Streets of Fire
Old and good. Pretty standard story and simple. But the fantastic musical sequences were worth it. Hit.

Burial Ground
An Italian zombie film. Absolutely terrible. A complete waste of time, I should've slept through this one. Big Miss.

Crank
Everything that epitomises mindless style over substance and chauvinistic bullshit moviemaking. Falls between good and bad. Good if you throw your brain away, but it could've been even more extreme with the stuff they were going for. Sex, drugs, swearing, 'random cool things', any excuse to kill people, etc. However I enjoyed parts of it, there were some funny scenes. But a Small Miss.

Troll 2
This was apparently the worst movie on IMDb's list for quite a while, but (at the time of post) it moved up to #9 worst movie of all time. Actually fairly coherent, about a kid who defeats vegetarian goblins (yes, there are no trolls in the film) by eating a meat sandwich at the film's end. Well, not the end, the actual end of the film was bad too. Glad I saw this movie. We also talked to one of the lead actors in this film. Hit.

Behind Closed Doors (?)
I don't even know if I got the name of this one right. There are a few films on IMDb with the same title but it's not worth checking out. Slept through the entire thing. Worst Movie of Marathon.

Top Secret!
Absolutely fantastic. Val Kilmer at his best. Puns galore. Massive Hit.

Lisztomania
This movie was far to insane to watch fully. Too much craziness, I just shut my eyes at this point. Some parts in the beginning were funny but overall, ehhh. Miss.

Thunderbirds are GO
Miss. I personally don't find watching an ugly plane take 30 minutes to assemble very interesting. Slept through most of this.

To Live and Die in L.A.
It was alright, I enjoyed it but nothing special. Mild Hit.

The Holy Mountain
Now this film alone would probably have been worth going to the marathon for. Perhaps one fo the most pretentious films ever made. I challenge anyone to find something more arthouse. An absolute epic to witness, both beautiful and terribly cruel/tasteless/disgusting at the same time. Everything from Jesus to killing frogs, chickens, dogs, grotesque imagery, maggots, flies, voice-over, dissolves, gigantic sets, hundreds of extras, war, life, death. I will not ever see this film again, but it is absolutely worth seeing once, just to expose oneself to what I think is the most stupid film one will ever see. Both a great achievement in terms of scale and in my opinion one of the most wrong ways to be using the film medium. Massive Hit.

Black Agent Lucky King
I can't even find this film on IMDb. About a secret agent who was completely useless. Massive Miss.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The 1978 version. Apart from the really bad ending this was very watchable, I took away some things in this movie. Hit.

So the final tally is it was pretty much half and half. Most of the bad films played through the 12-6 AM period so I had a good sleep during that time. Yay.

Now another film I saw (not in the marathon):

Pieces of April - yay, good movie. See it. Yep.

:o)

In other news I just saw the season four premiere of The OC. Reminds me of all the good times, I am very happy that this show is back. I thought there was one montage sequence in the premiere that wasn't necessary, but other than that they had a pretty tightly written episode - I love the Seth/Ryan reversal from season two and the way they are playing the college/geographical thing. Good.

Wow. While I can't say that Lost season three is as good as season one, it is miles cooler than season two.

To John Mayer or not John Mayer. Damnit I'm gonna be broke if I go to this. But. Hmm.

I didn't think there was any way they could make Honey Soy Chicken Uppercut Chips more attractive.

Everything that happenson Prison Break is out of this world. You're required to suspend so much of your disbelief. But I still watch it. Um.

I still have one exam left. 24 Hour Movie Marathon this weekend. Yikes.

Ray mentioned that he's started writing his Ear in Review early. I've started writing mine as well. I'm gonna be posting it early. November 27th to be exact.

What a year. Good and bad. The extremes of everything. Well, I'll talk about that later. Hope everyone's exams are going well, good luck with the ones that you have left!

:o)

Not a bad day. Beautiful weather. Did the first four versions of a song for another one of CJ's animation projects, this time a minute long track for a title-sequence in the style of J-Rock. This is the first time I've EQ-ed each track properly, or for that matter, EQ-ed anything. Fun, takes time, but rewarding. Learning a lot and still an amateur.

Um, Grey's Anatomy is kind of weird this season. Like for some reason all the dialogue seems really bad. I'm not sure if it's just me or if it's because they are getting sloppy.

I for one am still watching Desperate Housewives and enjoy it immensely. The OC season four begins soon. Ahaha. Hah.

I was on a watchlist for this light meter for an entire week, then I forgot to bid today. I even put it in my phone to remind me, but I still forgot to bid. Lol.

-_-