Josh On A Couch

Enjoy!

Couch

I'm on Jeremy's couch. Hootie-hoo!

Mobile Blogging

I'm wi-fying this one in from sunny Southern California.

This post is being authored from the i-mate JASJAR device that I picked up at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. They hooked up conference attendees for a cool $149. Already I've seen them going on eBay for almost $1100. I'm still trying to decide if I should keep it or not.

Check out the specs for this thing on this eBay listing.

I was hoping that I would somehow hook up with some Arizona people while I'm out here, but it's just not in the cards. Molly has been spending her time in Beverly Hills, visiting the stars' homes, horseback riding by the Hollywood sign, etc. I have been spending long days learning about Vista, WPF, WCF, WWF, WinFX, WS-*, SQL and the like. We're off to MA saturday morning.

That's all for now.

Three Films

I've caught three films on this trip. Quick summaries only.

I was at the Bellingham Regal Theater on opening night for Red Eye. I didn't expect much going in, but was pleasantly surprised. It was goofy in parts, but overall very enjoyable for a thriller. Wes Craven did an excellent job.

Next we saw Charlie at the IMAX in Natick. Wow, it was great on the big, big screen. I think when I originally saw it it must have been a DLP digital projection, because I remember some digital artifacts and generally flatness of the images. The 70mm print was superb.

Finally, I caught War of the Worlds last night at the soon-to-be-closed Cinema Zeotrope. I was truly shocked and disturbed by some of the images. I actually really liked the dynamic, handheld camerawork towards the beginning of the film, coupled with a complete lack of score, it was very gritty. However, the whole film seemed pieced together and disjointed. Later, Speilberg would revert to his classic camera angles, and it seemed out of place. I'm thinking especially of the shots (twice) through holes in vehicle windsheilds, and especially the alien POV looking down at Dakota. I just stood out as a very different perspective than we had seen thus far. Tim Robbins was horrible, and the cat-and-mouse with the probe gag got old real fast, only to be repeated immediately with the aliens directly. Overall, I enjoyed it and it was very devestating in parts.

Leonardo, Part III

If I knew one thing about our Screen Wars Drama submission, Leonardo, it was that lead actor and friend Marco Galli was a lock for Best Actor. Tonight, at the awards ceremony and mixer, this proved true... and much more.

Congrats to Marco for his award, to Angie for winning Best Actress (for looking stunning in a picture, I suppose), and to the whole cast, including Brock, Joe, Bonnie, Eddie, Luke, Larry, and Tim, for Best Ensemble Acting.

Finally, we won for Best Cinematography. I say we because the lighting work we did required a lot of help and equipment. So, if not for Gabe, Ken, and Brock also assisting in this area, this award would not be possible.

Big night for Matter of Chance, wish I was there!

Update

I'm here in Massachusetts through Labor Day working on a project. The work is good. The bed is hard, and there is no air conditioning at Big Momma's House. That's typical for the Boston area. It's almost 90 degrees with about 70% humidity right now. On the news last night, they had a humidity meter that went from Low to Hot to Oppressive and we were squarely between Hot and Oppressive. Nice. Went to the book study and then the gym with Jeremy last night. Ran a couple miles, did a few stairs (I don't think I weigh enough to make the stair machine work properly). If I go back, I'm working my shoulders, see if it does any good for my chronic shoulder pain. Not sitting in front of a computer all day every day bloggin probably is a better long-term solution, just not possible right now.

Anyway, I'm not going to do a daily log this time out, since this is business, not necessarily pleasure. Though, we will do some fun things. Hopefully hit the Water Hazard mini golf and play some basketball this week.

AGTC, Part VI

This week, I finally got the final cut of AGTC done. The big hold up has always been the ominous overhead announcements I had envisioned throughout the film. I just couldn't get them written. Well, they are now complete, placed in the film, with all kinds of minor tweaks, and the cutting of one scene.

Coming soon, two seqeuls: AG2C and AGT3!

Leonardo, Part II

Well, it's true, Leonardo went down in flames, at least in the realm of Screen Wars. Dealt a crushing blow in the first round of the Drama competition. Really, quite disappointing, based on the effort that went in to this film. The audience vote is a tough one to figure out.

We'll just have to look forward to the jury awards for some recognition. Now that all nine films have aired, it is safe to say that Marco has a great chance to take the Best Actor award home.

Moon Me

It's been a fun day.

It all started with Google Moon.

It moved along to Google Earth.

Best. Application. Ever.

You have to download and install it to your local computer but it's well worth it.

Then I realized that my dream of mapping and categorizing every basketball court in New England was now a real possibility.

Here's a sample of the Best. Court. Ever.

I know there's probably categories that I'm missing. But what? A category for how good the competition is at a given court? I feel some database programming coming on.

So far I have the following basketball courts documented and pinpointed:

• Texas Instruments Gym


• Fidelity Investments Williams Street Hoops


• Fidelity Investments Puritan Way Hoops


• Johnson School


• Coolidge Field


• Joshua J. Provost Memorial Gym


• King Street Memorial Park

Test Your Film Skill-Level

OK, guys, time to test your film skill. Let's see it!

Arizona Citizen, Part V

Congratulations to Brock H. Brown who took home Best Director for Arizona Citizen. Was it ever in doubt?

Also winning awards, Evangeline Provost Best Actress as The Visitor in the film of the same name, and Joshua J. Provost Best Actor as The Teller in Bandito's Way, and Best Editing for Arizona Citizen.

Johnny B. Naked, Part II

Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the final cut of Johnny B. Naked. More of a hard drive housekeeping task than a creative impulse, really.

The Subject - Teaser

Brock asked for it, Brock got it. Teaser trailer for The Subject.

Matter of Chance, The Next Twelve Months

If I don't make a list, I'll never get anything done. With that in mind, here is a Matter of Chance to do list, with tasks for all of us, in no particular order.

1. Submit last years films to select film festivals
2. Finish Tim Nm, CPA
3. Finish The Subject
4. Finish TMINM music video (woods footage)
5. Finish TMINM documentary
6. I'm Not Crazy, Pantomiming, and Inside Out Director's Cuts
7. Release MoC DVD
8. Intenser Math (Screenplay, Gabe?)
9. Tim Nm 2 (already conceptualized)
10. Wildlifeless
11. Young Castro (starring Gabe)
12. Brothers/California story
13. Songwriter?
14. Update MoC web site

What else do we have?

Matter of Chance, The First Twelve Months

We commented about it before, but here is a visual retrospective of Matter of Chance Productions first twelve months of operations. We've got more crazy stories in a year than most would have in a decade.

Anyone have a still from Inside Out or a better picture from Pantomiming? Send me a link.

Leonardo, Part I

True, there have been a number of posts already about this film. However, this is the first one in a while and the first one since Gabe suggested we just simplify and call the thing Leonardo, in honor of the main character.

So, here it is, our latest film, this one produced for the Screen Wars Drama challenge. While filling out the submission form yesterday, I was forced to write a one-line blurb for the film. I wrote: "Roma, 1958. A professional killer receives his latest commission and is torn between duty and desire." Too dramatic? Too much of the obsession/love angle?

I think this film is significant in a couple of big ways and many smaller ones. First, it's a first big step in making films for ourselves, instead of making films for challenges. The challenge requires a three-minute film, but we went ahead and made the film at our pace and to our liking, and it ends up being about six minutes. We knew we could always cut it down to qualify for the challenge, but first and foremost we did it our way. So, I don't look at the long version as a Director's Cut, but just the real cut, and the short cut is the Screen Wars version.

Second, it was super ambitious in a number of small ways, but I think we pulled it off convincingly. I mean, c'mon, an Italian period piece shot in Phoenix!? Get real! Yet, we carefully selected our locations and took great care to minimize the modern influences that would betray the time period: the cafe scene on the Tucchetti patio, the car scenes with an actual 1950's Alfa Romeo, the apartment scene at the Hotel San Carlos, the grocery scene at Calabria, and the store room scene in Gabe's garage. There are a few straggling modern items in the shots (e.g., digital scale behind Eddie Davis in the grocery), but these will be cleaned up for the final cut.

We filled the locations with great props that evoked the place and time. The espresso cups, the weathered looking folder and envelope, the black and white photograph, the car(!), the old map of Rome, the holster, the dominos, and the old hats, to name a few. The issue of the Italian magazine Tempo from 1958 came just a few days too late, but would have been a great touch sitting on Leonardo's desk.

This film was also an experiment in cinematograpy for us. Prior to the film, I did some actual research on cinematography techniques, made notes, and then executed on them. Visually, the film was inspired by Gordon Willis' work on the Godfather trilogy. I got some help from some real cinematographers in figuring out just what that style really entailed. In a nutshell: underexpose 1 1/2 stops and push back a single stop in post, medium to long focal lengths, don't be afraid to leave things in shadows, high camera positions.

With the help of Ken Beals and the extra lights he was able to bring along, we were able to light all of the scenes really well, and stop down to where we needed to be. So, we were shooting dark scenes that weren't really dark on the set, so we got darkness without the noise or less of detail. We had 3-4K of wattage on nearly every shot.

Another thing I tried was using daylight white balance with tungsten light fixtures. This was something I read that Vitorio Storarro used in a number of films, to simulate a golden sunset glow. This worked, but we just didn't have the wattage to make it work as much as I would have liked (we could have used a 10K fixture if we had one), but I fixed it up in post to get the look I was going for.

Now, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the acting. I didn't know what to expect of Marco as a lead actor prior to the filming. Heck, I didn't even know if he was into this, or would stick it out with us through all the long shoots in different locations over a number of days. Not only did he stick it out, but he was terrific. In a film whose story is mainly told through voiceover, he was doing some great and unexpected physical acting that really captured the thought processes as expressed in the screenplay. On a number of occassions, he had Brock and I looking at each other during takes with what can only be described as absolute delight over what we were seeing. In the end, he was explaining the characters motivations to us more eloquently than we could explain it to him. Of course, Brock was responsible for coaching Marco, and whatever he was telling Marco obviously worked.

The film has a really unique pace and feel to it. Very European and simple, observational of the characters and their lives. To give you an idea, I was able to cut the film in half for the short cut without removing a single story element. Nearly all of the original shots are there (I think I cut out a grand total of three shots), just cut shorter.

Thanks to Gabe for his hard work, Ken for his hard work and truckload of gear, Angie for the makeup and support, and Marco, Joe, Bonnie, Luke, Larry, and Tim for playing their roles. THe cooperation from people outside of the Matter of Chance family, including Scott and John from Tucchetti, Maria, Carlo, and Eddie from Calabria, Bill and Terry from the Alfa Romeo Owner's Club was outstanding! We can't thank them enough.

Arizona Citizen, Part IV

Arizona Citizen advanced to the final round of Screen Wars Western, and the voting is now closed. It's in the books! Nothing we can do now to improve it's chances of winning. Brock's interview, though delivered brilliantly, was edited in a way to suck the life and character out of him, making him seem almost normal. That is a shame. Perhaps if the film wins big, they'll dig up some of his great quotes for a longer interview.

As of right now, I am very much prepared for Bad Whiskey to win it all. It was a very impressive film, and it won in a landslide in week one, blowing away our other submissions. I guess I could pick nits and point out a few flaws and make ourselves feel better, but it did so many things so very well, it's not worth it. I'll admit it, I did the noble thing and voted for it in week one. I like it a lot. If we lose to it, I can live with that.

On the other hand, Arizona Citizen is very much a simple, understated idea, charming in it's own right, but not something that people will catch on to, most likely. I'm very proud of it, and very glad we didn't just pack it in and go home, but stuck it out to make this film in under a half an hour. Here's to winning some awards!

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!