TMINM-W

Get ready for The Moon Is No More - West. Last night the lineup was Brock H. Brown on drums (Wait, what's his name when he's playing music?), Evangeline Provost on bass, and myself on guitar. Most of the 12 Brothers songs were practiced. This private session was not recorded. Sorry, folks.

Anti-"And" "But" Domination

Just in case you think that my mind has wandered away from 12 Brothers: I just figured out how to fix a controversial line in Business. Here's what I had posted so long ago:

our father used to say
"the customer's right always
so stay open late
and make sure you get paid"

Joshua saw an issue with painting the father in a somewhat negative light by adding the "and make sure you get paid" part. Almost like it made him too greedy. Personally, that wasn't an issue for me. The man runs a business; of course he wants to get paid. Regardless, the father has both positives and negatives to him, just like any normal person.

Despite the lack of resonance with Joshua's argument, however, this line still bothered. Finally, while driving along and listening to the Business demo on my iPod, I realized what the problem is. The word "and." It doesn't work. The "serving of the customer" and the "get your money" pieces don't tie together neatly with an "and." I have the solution!

What it needs is a big "but." That's right. While you should do everything you can to make your customer happy, in the end it all comes down to the dollar. I know this paints the father in an even more unfavorable light, but I'm OK with that. By simply switching an "and" with a "but" great weight is added to this verse. Thus:

our father used to say
"the customer's right always
so stay open late
but make sure you get paid"

And Joshua did just so.

Shipping Yesterday

I received the above image from Carl yesterday. Carl will deliver the goods on Sunday evening at Gregg and Cindy's BBQ. Can't wait!

I Kill You Now

Il Diritto Uomo - Coming Soon

Watch 2046 Now!

You think I'm kidding? Wrong! Follow me.

I have to give the credit to Carl. He's the one who found this. He told me that he queued it up but I'm not sure if he's received it yet.

Lost In Translation

Jeremy, I know you will appreicate this. Here's a little tool to give your next screenplay a good working over.

Hey, there's more. I finally found a translator that includes pinyin, the English phonetic spellings of Chinese words. It won't translate whole phrases, but you can do things one word at a time.

Have you seen the trailer for 2046? Wow, what a trip. It's WKW, with hints of 2001 and AI. I have to see this movie!

Bella Donna

We have our "photo girl."

La Drogheria

Work on The Italian Film has continued, primarily scouting locations and looking for props. Tuccheti has agreed to allow us the use of the patio for the cafe scene. Last weekend, I got in touch with the President of the Alfa Romeo Owner's Club, and it seems we will have access to a classic Italian automobile. Wednesday, I toured the Hotel San Carlos and selected a room that will serve as Leonardo's apartment. All very good.

Thusrday, Friday, and today, we visited nearly every Italian grocery (drogheria) and deli in the Phoenix area. There were some good ones and some that were too modern. Here are some pictures of the better locations.

New Jersey Italian Grocery & Deli

Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix

The New Jersey had just closed when we arrived, so these pictures were taken through the front door. It doesn't look overly modern, except for the crazy Italian t-shirts hanging on the grocery racks. Brock liked the pass-through window looking into the kitchen. The path from the front door to the back door is fairly short and straight, but we could fake the door off to the far left and have Leonardo walk across from left to right and behind the counter to the back door.

DeFalco's Italian Grocery
Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale

We visited DeFalco's Friday and had a bite to eat for lunch (prosciuto sandwich). This store is more cramped, with lots of racks packed with fine groceries. The metal racks are a bit modern looking, but there were some great possibilities for through-the-rack shots, which would have looked cool. Plus, they have had film students working there in the past, and one of the Manager's produced a film, with quite a few films having been shot here.

Calabria Italian Grocery & Deli
3rd Ave & Roosevelt, Phoenix

We almost didn't visit Calabria. We couldn't find it the first time through. We went back today, on the way for a second visit to DeFalco's. Well, we never made it to DeFalco's. Armed with better directions, we found it today. We grabbed some canolis and talked to the Manager/Owner Maria, who is game to help us out. The shop is small and simple, but has nice rich colors on the walls, with neat racks of groceries to one side and a stocked deli case on the other. There is a long hallway between the two. This should work out very well for the scene we need to shoot.

Any thoughts on the locations?

Hey, bonus photos...

Johnny B. Naked, Part I

In time, we will regret this... but here's a little test clip.

The Italian Film

Since we haven't decided for sure which screenplay we'll shoot, let's just call it The Italian Film for now (in the tradition of The Chinese Movie). I'll post my screenplay up on The Study of Leonard Hughes. Here are some visual elements for the film.

Intense Math, Part VII

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Intense Math: Special Edition.

There were a few minor changes I wanted to make before submitting this film to festivals. I fixed the three dolly shots so they don't shake as much. I fixed two reaction shots that had frame blending before and looked very blurry. I also remastered the audio mix. I this version Han Solo doesn't shoot first.

Look for Winter's Day: Special Edition with all new screaming, coming to a theatre near you.

Arizona Citizen, Part III

Arizona Citizen is now complete. Brock has really outdone himself on this one. Look out Screen Wars, he's coming... and he's completely nuts!

G.O.A.T.

That's right, Greatest of All Time... World's Best Living Tiptop Player. I defy you to challenge me.

12 Brothers - The Music: Balance

In honor of Star Wars, I bring you this demo in the hopes of bringing Balance to the Force. Please be kind in listening to this song. I was not warmed up, and there are some screamier parts, and some softer high parts in the song, which I didn't exactly nail. It's an emotional song, and that's what counts. Future versions can only get better.

Tim Nm, CPA, Part I

I suppose this post could be called, Let's Go To The Video Tape, Part II. However, the project formerly known as the "Chinese Movie" now has a name. This one has seemed to stick, though I never felt very strongly about it. As strongly as I feel about this movie, and as hard as we pushed to do the impossible, and shoot this thing despite being on vacation, having limited time, having limited access to the lead actor, having no secured locations, and no script written ahead of time, the title doesn't do anything for me, one way or another.

Jeremy will be happy to see any kind of status about it. Having taken the role of actor in this film, he didn't get to see what was going on as it was being shot, and only five still pictures since. A test of edited footage was at one time uploaded for him to see, then deleted before he got the chance. Meanwhile, select others, all less related to the project but important nonetheless, have had a chance to view and comment on parts of the footage.

Mind you, this is no formal announcement that work on editing the film has begun in earnest, but pehaps Jeremy can take heart that a ", Part I" post has indeed been created. It can only bode well for what will happen in the near future. The Westerns are almost in the can, the Drama film is close at hand, and Brock has the Thriller film in the works. After that, there will be no more short filmmaking for some time, even if Screen Wars re-ups for another season, I tell you that.

On a side note, it seems that I myself may be called on to star in film about a documentary filmmaker obsessed with his subject. This film, from all I gather, will be highly improvised and shot on location where life happens. Sound familiar? Will I participate in such a project, one that so closely resembles mine, that, should it progress more rapidly that this, may, in fact, compromise the viability of the Tim Nm, CPA project? I just might, and I will thoroughly enjoy doing it.

Furthermore, as the 18 or so Tim Nm source tapes sit neatly in a row, on the extreme Southern edge of my workspace, tape log always nearby, work has begun, in all sincerity, on a sequel to this very film. In the sequel, Tim Nm takes his "masterpiece" to its logical next step, the film festival circuit. Or, perhaps it is more appropriate to say that Tim brings it, because there can be no guarantee of any takers. Our protagonist, after crashing directorial panel discussions, raiding the projection booth, and squandering all of his resources in this unlikely endeavor, finds himself without a job and without a family. Determined, he takes the Blockbuster job, as an avenue to promote his film, within the store (look for Days of Being Wrinkle Free in the foreign film section), and to promote his very own film festival, NmFest '05, featuring panel lively discussions with one Tim Nm. Poor attendence force him to reconsider his efforts, or at least to regroup. Seeking to get closer to his roots, he finds himself in Chinatown, but even this is not enough. A poor facsimile, indeed. The only logical step is to go directly to the source of his inspiration. A trip to mother China is in order, and a quest to make his next film, this time with actual Chinese, no doubt with time spent tracking down the vaunted WKW. Cut to 2055, his second film, named for fifty years hence the debut of his first. Fade to black. Roll credits. Roll credits again. The end.

That's the long way of saying that as sequels go, we have as much or more material as when we undertook the original, all in one evenings work. There are questions that remain. Shoot it in September or December? Will Jeremy participate willingly, or withhold performance in hopes of accelerating delivery of the original? Will Molly ever know that Jeremy shot a feature-length film while she was at work?

Your thoughts...

Arizona Citizen, Part II

As you may know, there was no audio recorded on the footage for Brock H. Brown's Arizona Citizen. The reason for this is unknown, but as Editor, I remain undaunted. Today, the missing dialog was recorded. Brock and Gabe did an excellent job lip synching to the footage. C'mon, this is how all hollywood movies are made, no?

Now that there is dialog to work with, I'm sure this film will be done in no time.

Note: Brock's starting to act strange. I've always suspected he is quite the enigmatic director. However, today he wouldn't stop talking about eggrolls. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on him.

The Visitor, Part II

And the winner is... the sharp, high contrast look with rich greens and blues. Thanks for your votes!

Futher, The Visitor is now complete. It looks good, and the edit went smoothly (the color correction was a bear, thanks to constantly changing cloud cover). I'm real happy with the film, and it went very much according to plan. It is now exactly as I had envisioned: a strange and touching family film. Still, it's not as exciting to me as some of the other projects on my plate, that push the envelope a bit more, but it was fun to make, and a testament to our improving abilities to make films, and bring them to being the way we envision them.

I hope you get a kick out of it, and that it makes it to the Western stage of Screen Wars.

Winter's Day, Part IV

Vote, or the girl dies!

Winter's Day aired yesterday, on the first episode of Screen Wars: Action. There's still time to vote, if you haven't already.

We are up against Number One by Angel Ruiz and The Quest: Search For Master Po by James Riley. Both films are solid competition. Number One had a great look, lighting, camera angles, and subtle effects. The Quest was very funny, with a great look, and well-coreographed action sequences. If we lose to either one, it would be no surprise. Good work all around.

Technical note: The film was displayed in the wrong aspect ratio (16:9 instead of the intended 2.35:1), and it was unusually contrasty, creating dark shadows on the faces while outside the house, removing all details. Not good, I'm going to have to bring this up, if we win.

12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Balance

Prerequisite reading thus far:

• Options Central - What Is An Option?
• 12 Brothers - The Music: Investment
• 12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Investment
• 12 Brothers - The Music: Sunsets
• 12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Sunsets
• Anti-Global Rotation 51
• 12 Brothers - The Music: Business
• 12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Business
• Biznits 51
• 12 Brothers - The Music: Inheritance
• 12 Brothers - The Lyrics: Inheritance
• Twelve Brothers. One Passion.

We have reached the final chapter, Balance. The story goes something like this ...

The 11 brothers and their father have hit on hard times. The downturn in the market has forced them into near poverty. Now they must contemplate the choice between bankruptcy or trying to salvage their floundering family business. Not having the personality of quitters they decide to go for it and attempt to acquire a loan from a powerful investment banking company in the southwest (you know the one). This loan will help get them through the hard times and hopefully over the hump and back to being successful again. Of course, what they really need is redemption with their lost brother. Bringing him back into the fold, no doubt, would fulfill their emotional needs and, perhaps most importantly, provide them with the economic stability that they desire. #12, being as gracious as he is, gives them what they need on both counts.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Below are your lyrics. These are the original lyrics that I had written for this song. My main issue with them is that there's too much mixing of metaphors and the tone differs too much from the surrounding songs. I had written some alternate lyrics that spoke more in business and banking terms but I can't find them at the moment. We'll deal with these for now and if I can find the other's I'll post them in the comments section.

Verse 1:

now you've seen me again
but don't recognize me
when you look into my eyes
when you make your plea
you can't really see
what you need from me

Chorus 1:

you want a ship to weather the storm
when i could offer so much more
what you want is not to be
but i'll help with what you need

Verse 2:

who could this man be
that he should know us intimately
and propose to fill our needs
our father misses his son
and we desire atonement
but could he be this one

Chorus 2:

we want a ship to weather the storm
and a ballot to carry reform
we want a taste of good graces
and feel of warm embraces

Verse 3:

so how do you plead
and will you concede
that you are guilty
i've put forth a test
that you've passed quite well
and now the matter can rest

Chorus 3:

you want a ship to weather the storm
when I could offer so much more
what you want is not to be
but now you have all that you need

OK, let's hear the music.

HD DVD

And I'm not talking hi-def.

I'm talking about the new Hoop Dreams DVD that just got released by the ultimate DVD company, Criterion. No one makes a better DVD. They have the best quality transfers, the best special features, and, most importantly, the best selection of films to choose from. They only go for the important ones. In fact, just typing this up makes me realize that it's time to re-live the In The Mood For Love 2-disc Criterion DVD.

It has been quite some time since I've seen Hoop Dreams. I still remember that night, though. Me, Joshua, A&B. We even got pulled over by the cops that night. For nothing.

Hoop Dreams is undoubtedly one of the best documentaries of my generation. I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm adding it to my Amazon Wish List. Anyone who wants to make a poor boy happy can snap to it.