Found Object: "Black Box"

It looks like the very talented Shame Simmons will be making periodic behind-the-scenes videos for the movie I'm Art Directing. Here's a little teaser:

Ready. from Shane Simmons on Vimeo.

Black Box Day 0.

Tomorrow is the first day of production on Stephen Cone's film Black Box. I'll be insanely busy until mid March, but will hopefully get a chance to post photos regularly (in addition to the inside jokes that I'll mistakenly think anyone other than the crew will give a shit about).

Though now that I think about it, I'm still sorting through 6,000 photos I took while on Light Years in November. Yikes.

What is it called when it takes longer to process a thing than the thing took in the first place? There should be a word for that.

Projects

This isn't exactly film related, but it's an excuse to mention one of my new favorite Chicago businesses, The Rebuilding Exchange.

It's a green salvage company, which also has workshops and job training. Its two warehouses are chock full of insanely awesome stuff, all reclaimed from demolished or rehabbed buildings around Chicago. It's a great example of how green companies don't have to be impractical, and it's a great resources for those of us in the independent film community.

Here's a project I recently finished for my apartment:

Found Object: Werner Herzog

Domains.

It won't be reflected on the site for a little while, but I've finally secured the license to www.oneonetwothree.com. A nice person by the name of Jason sold it to me out of the blue, and asked a very reasonable price considering how badly I had wanted it.

Originally the .net domain was a result of my not owning the .com iteration, and I begrudgingly took .net as a fall-back (let's face it, going for the more complicated "oneonetwothreeproductions.com" or some such thing would have been a terrible idea).

Now I've grown a bit attached to my .net home, and I think I may keep things redirected here after all.

Photojournal

Sediment, a photo by oneonetwothree on Flickr.

Final Cut, No!

A small update in the saga that is Final Cut Pro, from Gizmodo.

I suppose these changes are 100% beneficial, though as a few comments already mentioned, it's still not enough to draw Pro customers. No source monitor, a wacky timeline, and far too many pointless limitations (not to mention the necessity for workarounds for basic features like EDL support)

Even if the above features were available at launch, the resulting uproar would have been similar. It's no secret that the Pro market is a harsh mistress. Still, as a freelancer I'm happy to use FCP 7, am reluctant to adopt a new software, and don't see the need for change any time in 2012. Hopefully by year's end there will be some more robust changes to FCPX, such that it's worth editing an indie feature or music video. Otherwise I know where a chunk of my tax return is going in February of 2013.

2012

While still hoping to finish a video originally slated for the end of 2011, I've already got the next 7 weeks or so of my life figured out:

Looks like I'll be Art Directing the latest Stephen Cone feature (his 3rd or 4th feature, depending on who you ask). I'll be working with Caity Birmingham, who's the biggest rock star I know in the art world. I've been good friends with Stephen for years, but this will be the first time my schedule and his schedule have allowed for us to work full time on the same project. I'm definitely, incredibly excited.

The project is called "Black Box," and the script is great.

The crew thus far is an insanely high concentration of some of my favorite people from Columbia College, as well as a few folks I've met along the way in the freelance world. If I'm scarce around here, you'll know why.

Also: I can't post my pictures from Light Years just yet, as that'd risk spoilers and marketing problems down the line, but they'll go up as soon as I'm able.

Found Object: "Side By Side"

This, well, actually looks like a really interesting documentary. Thanks, Keanu.

I've had the fortune to learn filmmaking on film, and had the fortune to work on both digital and 35mm features. Abstaining from favoritism towards one format or the other has been a tricky fence to sit for awhile, though with the rate of progression in the last 10 years I suspect it'll be a non-factor in another decade. My career would be drastically (perhaps even miserably) different if not for the advent of robust digital technologies, but as Christopher Nolan curmudgeonly states in the below trailer, it's far too soon to just throw film to the garbage heap.

Writing Advice

Of all the different aspects of filmmaking, I find writing to be the hardest. Since 2012 is the year I've decided to take writing more seriously (hard to tell from this blog, but it's true!), I thought this little service was a nice surprise discovery (via BoingBoing).

Figment, a writing blog, is offering daily writing prompts. They show up in your inbox each day, and with any luck give you something to think about, experiment with, or even blow off in favor of something else you'd rather do. This week they have five prompts from none other than Lev Grossman.

Lev Grossman is the author of The Magicians and The Magician King, and is one of my favorite writers. I follow him on twitter, even (@leverus). His first prompt from Monday is below:

Jonathan Franzen used to write his novels wearing earmuffs, or earplugs, in a darkened room with no windows, so that he could completely immerse himself in his fictional world and forget about the real one. See if that works for you.

Now, back to work...

Tribeca Talks "Light Years"

Below is a nice article, written by "Light Years" director Maggie Kiley, about the process of translating her short into a feature film. For those just tuning in, this is the feature that hired me to Production Design in New York a few months ago.

Tribeca Takes: Maggie Kiley on Light Years

It's always a gamble when you sign onto a project, no matter what the budget or the people involved. The odds are even worse when you jump into things with a crew you've never met, and a production that can't afford to solve issues with money. It was definitely the most difficult project I've worked on to date, but it was so worth the risk. Also, Maggie's enthusiasm in the article isn't just a matter of hindsight, nor is it some calculated, marketing nonsense. We all felt proud and happy to have accomplished what (on paper, anyway) should have been impossible. I'm quite sure the film will get to where it deserves to go, and it's only the beginning for Maggie.

(Here's Light Years on IMDB)

New Work: Windy City Rollers - Travel Season Promo

Despite clocking in at 67 seconds, this has been about 5 months in the making. It's also one of the last things I had wanted to crank out before 2011 came to a close, and I couldn't have done it without the under-the-wire assistance from my composer/friend Nathaniel Smith (nathanielmusic.com).

Hope you like it, and go see some Derby!

Photojournal Updates

Photojournal, a set on Flickr.

I've just updated my Photojournal with stuff from the last few months. Working on "Light Years" and a few other projects made it impossible to stay up to date, so I'm making sure I close out 2011 with a clean slate.
You can browse my Photojournal in this site's Photography section, or view in higher res via Flickr.

Wisdom, Words, etc.

Charlie Kaufman, on time:

‘That’s two hours I’ll never get back,’ is a favorite thing for an angry person to say about a movie he hates. But the thing is, every two hours are two hours he’ll never get back. You cannot hoard your two hours.

Consequence of Sound: Top Photos of 2011

Long story, long: I took the below photo of James Vincent McMorrow's awesome performance at The Hideout in Chicago this year. Earlier that day I had helped Consequence of Sound writer Nick Freed videotape a studio performance and interview with James, and he turned out to be one hell of a dude. I ended up with an invite to the show because Nick's regular photographer pal couldn't attend.

Lo and behold, Consequence of Sound put one of my pictures as #70 in their top 100 photos of 2011 (I don't think I can link directly, you'll have to scroll through 69 other photos to see in on their site...). Considering the rest of the list is full of crazy-famous musicians at crazy-huge musical events, I'm quite proud. It doesn't hurt that James is absurdly and ruggedly handsome.

And now we're one step closer towards the Irish to taking over the world...

Found Object: "How To Lose $2400 In 24 Seconds"

This is a very short, painfully clever little film. It's a fleeting moment that never would've been seen by the world at large if not for technology. I love when film and the internet can intersect gracefully, because as a commercial venture film would probably never yield something so random and hilarious.

Maybe for a sequel he can shoot with a RED, or on 35mm?!

NY, NY

I'm back in Chicago, after a 5 week stint in New York. I'm left with the mixed impression I'd normally associate with a failed relationship: I'm better for it, but tired and sore. The project and the people I worked with were incredible, but working out of that city....

Did you know that millions of people actually live and work there on purpose?

I had lots to gain from Light Years, but even more to lose, and I think I managed a healthy balance. To be blunt, from a Production Designer's standpoint it was a Herculean task to deliver at all, much less in any meaningful, creative way. On top of the time, budget, and personnel shortages, I lived in a "charming" apartment in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, which had hot water and heat only as often as it didn't. We filmed 27 locations over 20 days in nearly every corner of the city (plus Westchester and Connecticut). Ambitious is an appropriate word here, but only because we actually pulled it off.

Something that kept me going: The Director, aside from being a pleasure to work for, was nursing a 2 month old infant the entire project. Can you imagine complaining about sleep or fatigue in light of that? In the end, I'm really proud of this one. Proud and grateful.

I have thousands of pictures, but I may have to hold off on the bulk of them so as not to spoil the film's market exposure. For now I need to get rested, unpacked, and caught up on a mountain of other projects.

New York, New York

I'm here, quite suddenly, working as production designer on a feature film called "Light Years." Would add more, but we shoot in 11 days! Time to get to work...

Quilts of Valor - Day One (Perham, Minnesota)

Over the next few days I'm traveling by bus with a group of 30 quilters, all of whom participate in a network called Quilts of Valor. They deliver (in this case by hand) hand-made, heirloom quality quilts to wounded soldiers returning from combat as a symbol of their gratitude for the soldier's service.

The idea is: soldiers comes home from active duty, and despite all the hoopla associated with a war or conflict, very little is done for them when they're spit back out of the machinery of the modern military and back into civilian life. There's certainly no big parade, and sometimes not even a thank you. These quilters feel that soldiers shouldn't go their whole lives wondering if anyone else cared one way or the other.

With that in mind, I'll be traveling with a group of QoV quilters to film and document their journey on behalf of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting (a very popular program out of Iowa Public Television, and big sister to the internet sensation known as Quilty). We'll be escorted by an honor guard of motorcyclists, and headed for military hospitals at Fort Hood and Fort Sam in Texas to deliver 1,000 quilts.

Earlier today I flew into Fargo, and am staying the night in Perham, Minnesota before heading out tomorrow morning. I'm in the home of the Caugheys, who are helping organize the trip, and are longtime Perham residents. The town's lifeblood these days is fed in large part by tourists attracted to the ridiculous number of lakes (pictured above), and a company called KLN Family Brands, who transitioned a few generations ago from farmers to makers of potato chips, licorice, and dog food (fortunately not all in the same factory).

KLN, as I've come to find out, is a surprisingly progressive, and family owned, company. For instance, they've let residents use company vehicles to shuttle little league players to faraway baseball games, they have profit sharing benefits with their employees, and have even helped cover shortfalls in the local school's budget so their workforce wouldn't have to contend with closing elementary schools. It's rare to find a company so readily invested in the livelihoods and communities of their workers, and that attitude has certainly helped Perham withstand the downward cycle plaguing the other agricultural communities in this part of the country. The vibe here is nice.

Tomorrow: hitting the road...

New(ish) Work: "Forget Me Not"

This little movie premiered August 30th, 2010, at Chicago's Landmark Century Cinema with an hour-long program of shorts (hand selected from my friends and peers). This was also the day we started principal photography on Munger Road. So It's not really new, but after a year in the festival circuit it'll finally see the light of day.

You can watch it below, or find it posted in the film section. There are also behind-the-scenes photos over in the photography section, where you can see early sketches, Mitch the PA just after a bookcase fell on his head, and other fun things.

I started work on the film in 2007, and finished it in stages over the next 3 years while I finished my film degree at Columbia. It was built, staged, and shot entirely inside my first Chicago apartment (with the exception of the obvious exteriors and vignettes), much to the chagrin of the people I lived with. Through master sneakery, flim-flam, and elaborate ruses I got my hands on nearly every piece of equipment Columbia had available, despite not having permission to use any of it.

I hope you like it.


 Additional music by Andrew Bird, and poster by Matt Bors, both of whom you should know and love.