Eye Candy - behind the lense

So right at the moment things have started to kick into a high gear around here. Which is a nice change from the typical:

Have meeting, think about it, have meeting, sorta think about it, have meeting, forget about it.

Not that we're unproductive...but sometimes we take a long friggin' time trying to iron out what we want. Jordan Carlman is our writer and Tyler writes as well. I've written a few things here and there, but typically I'd rather stay on the sidelines and yell at em' if they take too long.

I'm selfish, sometimes I just want to shoot something pretty. I've been looking forward to shooting a little action sci-fi for a long time. Something difficult and nearly impossible for micro budget filmmakers. I'd love to try and attempt to shoot an old matte painting style background. Like they used to before the advent of CGI. But, my fellow Apt Pupils are driven by story and not spectical. I admit I'm selfish. I need to make sure that all of our bases are covered before we start production. I guess it wouldnt be wise to blow a bunch of money and time into something that ends up being repetitive drivel. Even if it is pretty.

We've begun production on Eye Candy and have at least a week and a half's worth of shooting done. I figured it would be nice to promote a little of this by showing you a little of what it looks like from behind the scenes.



This is Lindsay Carlman our set designer and Assistant Director. We have another name for Assistant Director, but it wouldnt be appropriate to illistrate it to you folks. Lindsay wearin' her filmmakers hat. Apparently the other random folks walkin' around up at the top of the summit thought we all looked like filmmakers because we all wore funny hats. I guess lugging around a big hulky old film camera doesnt count. *shrug*



Well, in the story it requires our young hero to stare longingly and lustfully at the rear end of a poor girl who's fate is likely to take a turn for the worst. Anyway, I call this the bike-butt-o-cam. I didnt ask the others what they think it should be named...so I'm taking the liberty. Be damned if its stupid.



A.J. Murphy one of my favorite soundguys and editors showing us that we all need to excersize more.



Probably one of my favorite shots of the day. Yes, it was a perverted shot. So shoot me. Hey they wrote the part in the movie. I'm just doing my job! :)



Darrell Boatwright, our hero, eyeing(if I were to write "no pun intended" would that be corny?) the prop.



Tyler, our Director, checking the light meter. Second guessing my work. Look at his face, hes ticked. I quietly wonder if I'm going to be able to keep my job.



Thus, I'm banished from the shoot to wander the desert.

By Chaz Gentry

Dirty Text Messages

Two weeks ago I received a text message that seemed a little out of character for our director, Tyler Neisinger. He sent a mass message to all seven of us saying, "Get ready to s@#* your pants Apt Pupils', we're heading to San Francisco! Distance made it!"

First off, Tyler is like a little choir boy. The boy just does not cuss. You have to get clever if you want to trick him into actually slipping out a four letter word dirtier than pooh. I think it has something to do with being raised right. I dont know.

Second, its out of character due to the fact that its not "Hold on to your hats, were headin' to...*sigh*...Twin Falls, Idaho" or "Better bring a book! We’re driving to Burns, Oregon." No more dry rural landscapes!! We're actually going to a populated area!

Does it sound like I dont get out too much? :) Anyway Distance made it into the San Francisco International of Short Films. We are looking forward to see some new material from people that I'm just happy to be amongst. It'll be, I'm sure, an absolutely eye opening experience.

The one thing that makes this whole little endeavor across Navada and into California state lines so difficult is the fact that we had mistakenly scheduled to shoot our next film, Eye Candy, right in the middle of this whole little trip. We started our first day of shooting this morning. It would have been yesterday except that as fate always has it. The one thunderstorm we have in a month and a half...decides to creep up and sit down on the day that we decide to do a full days worth of good shooting. Anyway, nobody really is complaining. I think we were happy to have an extra day to think about our schedule.

Well its needless to say that all of us are looking forward to hittin' the big city, doing all the fun touristy stuff. Like the podunk that I am, I'm going to have to beg the group to let me go to the park and find the cross where Scorpio beats the living piss out of Dirty Harry. I've been to San Fran before, and I was able to satiate all of my other Dirty Harry/Bullitt/Vertigo film locations. But, I didnt get to find that big friggin' cross.

*Grumble*

Anyway, thanks to SF International Shorts Festival I'm able to find that one little excuse to find that missing piece in my search for enlightenment.


By Chaz Gentry