Love

Pejorative Sagaciousness

sonnyboo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:25:47 +0000

I’m finally done sharing my cheer with the various families. I’m cranky and sleepy, but I’m going to party with some friends tonight. At least I have some new Blu-Ray’s and DVD’s to keep me company. I can finally see the extended cut of 24:REDEMPTION, the new Kevin Smith “A THREEVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH” which has been hilarious so far, and of course DEATH PROOF in HD along with INDIANA JONES and the inaugural Blu Ray CRITERION COLLECTION which is Wes Anderson’s BOTTLE ROCKET, which I cherish. The highlight is DR. HORRIBLE’S SING ALONG BLOG on DVD with “COMMENTARY: THE MUSICAL”. The sounds of Cannonball Adderly belting on the sax have set the tone for my weekend and I want to just take a day to myself and watch some movies in peace.

Once we get to January 2nd on through the rest of the year, I won’t have much time to rest or relax. Things will start to get busy rather fast. The wheels rotate ever onward and I’m ready. Several ideas ferment like a fine wine. Committing them to writing has been less and less cumbersome of late.

Some end of the year stats, as The Tale of Years in Rossdonia would not be complete.

The Cowtown Film Series was successful on many levels, including financial (although I need to still get a check from the theater… my bad). It was more work than I set out to do, but it was worth it. I feel good exhibiting the features and helping where I could with seeing some movies get completed that might not have otherwise. I am committing to doing another run of features in 2009, I just don’t know when yet. It won’t be 10 weeks, that’s for sure.

As already stated, I defeated my enemies. Those guys suck. Apparently, this statement in an earlier blog was taken out of context and ruffled feathers of people who fancy themselves my adversaries. I can think of nothing funnier than some guy I haven’t even taken into consideration or months got riled up, wrote blogs and then posted a multitude of comments all over my Funny or Die account because he so arrogantly thinks that I was talking about him. Imagine the arrogance it takes to read a blog and assume they are being addressed by capriciousness and vague notions.

Speaking of my blog, I average around 140 readers a day on all the various sites combined. That’s surprising. I only write these both as a cathartic expression and because I hate the impersonal sending of the same emails to friends and family of what I’m doing with a “cut and paste” function {CNTRL-C then CNTRL-V}. I have found that posting a blog and updating people via that conduit has been effective for the 10-15 people I intended to reach when I started. Now I had no clue so many other people were interested or reading. Even more confusing is the anguish and obsession it spurs in the few readers that are more akin to Lee Harvey Oswald than my more normal onlookers.

The UNCLE PETE videos were what I wanted them to be. I am pleased artistically and business-wise. They are in contract to be represented along with HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS via a Canadian-British agency that license short films for TV, web, cell phone, etc. I’ll give them a chance, as I’m still getting money from my old representation, but I’d like to see how different companies do. I’m thinking of dropping BIG FILM SHORTS as a distributor. They have been later and later on payments. Now they’re incommunicative at all, so I’ve stopped recommending them for representing short films. BLIP TV has been consistent and now matter how big or small, the checks come in quarterly and they always clear. I still made over $1,000 overall from short films for the year, and that’s just from my old material. Now that I have and will have more material as the 2009 goes on, I’m hoping to see an increase in income for shorts.

I’ve been working full time as a director/producer/editor for over 7 years as my sole income. Getting paid to do what you love to do has been one of my greatest accomplishments. It didn’t used to pay that well, but lately it has gotten better. I’m surprised the economy downturn hasn’t pinched my wallet as hard as I thought, but it has hit some and will continue to decline in ways for several months. I think more people would find their bliss if they could do what they want. My sincerest thanks to Scott Spears for making the last 2 years much more stable and reliable.

I can’t believe still that IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM is done. That’s something that was looming forever. I think subconsciously I was not giving my all into new projects or moving on until that was done. I promised myself it would get done. No one held my feet to the fire. Not many even cared I was doing it, but it meant something to me. Soon it will be on sale on AMAZON.COM (in a few days no less). Once I laid this puppy to tape the other day on a DVCAM master, it was like a release. I started deleting all the duplicate files on my internal and portable hard drives, knowing I’ll never have to need these again, and I was relieved. It was an invisible chip on my shoulder that needed released into the world.

GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND was another one of those albatrosses that needed to be taken away. We finished it, we screened it, and I deleted it. Seems like I have established a nice pattern for finishing feature length projects. This one was bittersweet in that the director wanted nothing to do with it, but so many other people involved were thrilled to see it complete. Giving Tim Lucas, an executive producer on the film, a DVD when he came to town was just as big a goal as screening the film. His closure meant as much to me as George’s.

The Cats of Rossdonia live on. My life with felines grows and develops into a strange and twisted tale that boggles the mind. I have learned much of unconditional love both for and from my little boy Vladimir Jack Bauer and his little black heart.

2008 was the year of shedding the past for me. Fulfilling all of my old promises, cutting loose the negativity, defeating my enemies (those guys suck), and moving on. I have plans. No one can stop me. 2009 will do it.

Pretty Things (Project: Direct)

mbbarnett — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:48:51 +0000

My entry for project: direct.

From concept to finished production in about a week; filmed at the last minute (did all the crew work myself). Found a few days off at the end of my semester and decided to do something productive rather than take a break. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Critters at ESPN

twilight-ent — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:09:10 +0000

Justa bunch of drunk KC critters.

Viagra of the Divine Muse

sonnyboo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:17:03 +0000

I recently shed a lot of inner turmoil. About 2 weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to focus on a few issues and not be worried about what may or may not affect me; let's only worry about what is in front of me, not hiding in the bushes nearby. One thing at a time, that's all I can care about. My time is getting more and more precious as I commit to gigs and projects. I don't have time to be worried about little things. Surprisingly, I have honored that commitment, plus the one to get off my lazy ass and get more physical in my daily routines.

I'm still on a high from this past Saturday's shoot. It was exhilarating to shoot. The execution matched the intent, and with George, it surpasses expectations. I haven't felt like this in a few years. Has it been that long? I guess so. I entrenched myself in HORRORS OF WAR for a time, then the marketing of it. Then for the past 12 months, I've been in money making mode more than personal storytelling endeavors with movies. As much as the itch was there, I could not scratch it. It feels as though the stars have realigned themselves and delivered unto me the will and the path to the future.

Sunday, as God's day, was a day of rest. I did nothing filmmaking related, besides all my footage was digitized on the computer at the office in a codec that is hard ware reliant with the Matrox RTX2 card & software. I cannot edit this on any machine without the same hardware and codec. My obsessive compulsive disorder has gone crazy, although not on Sunday. I watched CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND on Blu-Ray in the original theatrical cut of the film. Then I made out with my woman when she got home from work. It was a great follow up day to Saturday.

Yesterday, after completing my meager editorial jobs, I plunged headlong into the edits of my latest project. Now, the original intent was to edit all the greenscreen footage raw, and worry about post production and compositing until after I had final cut the picture. That makes sense. I can surmise what I need for each background, any character animations, and even make DVD's for the illustrious inner circle of people who will help me complete these mini-pieces of movie magic. This is the most efficient and logical way to do it.

So of course, I decide to go ahead and do an entire rough cut of the first piece, composite it with the test images I asked TJ to make, and then I added a temp music track along with a first pass at the title sequence. I chuckled to myself as I watched the semi-finished bit. My hopes and dreams are coming closer to being a reality with this.

Today, I had more edit jobs to do for work before I could start to tinker and play in the new world I'm creating. I diligently complete my tasks, complete with a spell check and verification on the 2 Suzuki spots I worked on, then I dived into the next clip. Again, TJ sends me backgrounds that match the piece I'm working on, so I composite and try to complete this 2nd one as well. Now I have 2 semi-finished clips.

Tomorrow, I intend to do the other 7 green screen clips and stick to the original plan. Edit for picture, composite and finalize later. I'm already in touch with a composer (Arya) for the score and my cousin Ian to do write and perform the theme song. Some of the remaining pieces will require character design and animation, so those will take longer to post. My impatience to want to share these ASAP kills my OCD, but it will be worth the wait for me to make them perfect before a public showing of any kind. It might take several weeks, but I don't want to put something sub par out there, not where these are concerned. I have to learn patience, especially where film work is involved. My passion for getting things seen sometimes supersedes completion of said work.

If this is any indication of how the rest of the feature will be, I'm in for one hell of a year…

I feel like I'm on fire again. It was a cold day, but the flames of inspiration kept me so jubilant that nothing can stop me. I'm on top of the world and I love the view. I'm not going to let myself get dragged down; besides, my freelance has quadrupled this month. With the Suzuki gig, some high school basketball championship games, my regular workload, and a shoot in Birmingham Alabama – your faithful narrator will have to finish these new movies in between cat naps on the paying work. I may be able to get a new Mustang. I love the 2005's and I found one used that I may snag up as the new Boo-mobile! If everything comes through, I will have made more in the month of March than I did in all of 2006.

I got another big royalty check on my short films today from cell phone distribution. That rocks. Whenever I get a check for over $1,000 for one quarter, I get blown away. I never planned on these things to make money when I made them. They were my self taught film school, nothing more. Now I'm raking in some extra dough from them and getting them seen by thousands of cell phone video watchers.

That's all I got for now, my friends. Peace be with you wherever you go.

Peter John Ross

interview on SONY'S CRACKLE.COM

sonnyboo — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:15:53 +0000

I got interviewed by Sony Picture's website CRACKLE.COM for my short film endeavors on their site.

read the interview on Sony Picture's CRACKLE.COM blog

I think what they are doing is cool. I'm still in the running for one of the contests. The only thing that sucks is they reset the counter on several of my short films so I'm down to 240,000 from 22 million+ so it sucks to be me now... still 240,000 is not a small number.

my latest VIDEOMAKER MAGAZINE article & tutorial

sonnyboo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:02:56 +0000

Transitioning Naturally, a piece on using the camera to get from one scene to another without pressing a button in the computer. It's in the March 2008 issue of the magazine in print but also online for free.

The article/video features actors Rhoda Cronebach, Bryan Michael Block, and Brandy Seymour. Camera work by TJ Cooley.

CLICK HERE to read article online

and

the video of it is here (CLICK HERE)

Day of Days

sonnyboo — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:40:08 +0000

Well, my movie came out on DVD this past Tuesday. To celebrate, John Whitney had the idea of a DVD release party. So we had one at Scott Spears' production Partners studio. It was a blast. As per usual, I had no idea how many people to anticipate. You can invite people, but I had no clue how many would actually show up. As someone so eloquently said to me on the phone earlier in the day, "I don't want to waste my time because I don't think anyone's showing up…" and to be honest, I didn't either. Some people didn't show up, but a great number of people did.

I saw several people I had not seen in a long while, some since the shoot in 2005. Others, I was really glad they didn't show up. Not all my memories from HORRORS OF WAR are great ones. We celebrated, but there was one thing in small supply – DVD's of the movie itself.

I woke up early on Tuesday, anticipating the party, but mostly anxious about the DVD itself. I had not seen a proof copy or had anything to do with the promotion (or lack thereof) for the DVD. I gave them a plethora of extras on DVCPRO to use or not use. It was way more than they could ever fit on a single disc, but I wanted to provide them with options. We recorded a commentary track, which to me was the no brainer.

My single biggest anxiety lied with the audio soundtrack of the whole movie. The DVD specs boasted a commentary track and "5.1 Surround". The original sound mix, both in stereo and 5.1 are substandard. It's not Cobblestone Studio's fault as we were on the same page. Over a disagreement with the Executive producer of the film as to what constitutes a good sound mix, we lost this battle because he believes "If you can't see it, you shouldn't hear it…" which is an appalling concept. One of the reasons our original 3.5 minute scene worked so well was because we made up for the small number of people on screen by implying a larger number with sound FX. It worked staggeringly well. In the final sound mix, that same scene plays thin to the point of anorexia. For the final delivery to our distributor, I had added back in several more layers of gun sounds, sound FX, and even some unused incidental music. To my horror, I did this in stereo, but not in Surround sound. This scared me to death that the bad sound mix might be on the DVD without all the extra work I did.

I did order a copy of the movie, but it had not arrived and I wanted to see it. Unfortunately, none of the retail stores in Columbus were carrying the title for sale. Best Buy's store manager told me they could not allocate the valuable shelf space because they wanted the slots for Spider-Man 3. Thankfully, Blockbuster Video had 4 copies on the shelf. I could at least hold the box in my hand. Doing that forced me to sign up for an account and rent the movie. I had to shell out $4.68 to rent my own damn movie. What a sad, sad world we live in. The clerk at the store told me he watched that movie the night before, so I asked if he liked it. He said it was great. He then went on to tell me he lived in Youngstown and that he recognized the old rubber factory where we shot the ending of the film.

Because I was in a mad rush to finish a big client project BEFORE the party, I could only skim the DVD and its extras. Good news and bad news abound. The bad news? There was no commentary track, even though it was listed as an extra by the distributor. The good news? It does contain my sound mix and that has been remastered in 5.1 surround. As for other extras, they included a nice selection of the web docs (with a weird intro they cut), plus even B-Roll and the Visual FX demo.

The party started at 7:00PM on a Tuesday night. We packed the house. I was relieved. Had a blast, spoke to a ton of people, saw some old friends, and met some new people. It was a party after all. I speak the obvious. Even my parents came to the party.

How does it feel to see your own movie on a shelf and being rented at Blockbuster? It feels great! More people should get to feel this way. I'm on top o' the world. My movie is out there in the world. Sean Velie emailed me from Hollywood and snapped a pic of 4 copies on the shelf at Blockbuster, all 4 rented out. Someone called Phil Garrett and told him that they had 4 copies at a Blockbuster in some obscure little Florida town, all rented.

Since there wasn't room, we've made the commentary track a free download on the site. CLICK HERE, it's a 28 meg download of an MP3, so feel free & put on your Ipod or MP3 player, and cue it up with the start of the DVD and enjoy the commentary with directors Peter John Ross & John Whitney with producer Philip R. Garrett.

The review in our local paper, the Columbus Dispatch was very good! Local filmmakers rarely get reviewed or mentioned in that publication, so this is a major coup for us.

CLICK HERE TO READ DISPATCH REVIEW

Not everyone likes the movie. Then again, I don't know of a single movie that every single person likes, so you get used to it. I like this movie. Hell, I even love it, warts and all. I'm very proud of what WE did. We made this movie and we have come a long way.

Now the movie belongs to everyone else. The Boo sleeps well tonight. The Boo is happy. Have peace my acolytes.

- Peter John Ross
- Co-director, Co-writer, producer of HORRORS OF WAR

AVRIL LAVIGNE HAS BECOME THE WORLD’S GREATEST POETESS OF THIS GENERATION!

sonnyboo — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:19:28 +0000

Let's face it people, Avril Lavigne speaks like Lord Byron or a 5 foot 1 inch tall peroxide blond Hemmingway. With words like "She's like, so whatever!" – That really sums up life you know? It really is that simple. I know have the international CD single that has no less than 7 language versions of "Hey Hey, You You, I don't Like Your Girlfriend" and I torture My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- with multiple repeat listening.

Combine that with THE HUMAN LEAGUE's greatest hits and we've got ourselves a dorkfest, musically speaking. Don't you want me baby? Keep feeling fascination. These are all valid statements of my emotional and mental state.

As is now becoming apparent, I delved into the making of another short form piece. I shot on HD and worked with a semi familiar crew. This was a quickie project to appease a request from Sony Pictures' CRACKLE.COM, where I have been wracking up the views for a few months now. I'm experimenting with viral marketing to see if I still have some instinct as to how to get views and the interest in subject matter. Also, it helped to get back in the saddle a bit.

For my techie, filmmaking geeks – we shot with the JVC HD110 HD camera, John Whitney edited for me in AVID XPRESS PRO, but I did the finishing pass, sound mix, and titles/FX in the full ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE. We had lavaliere mics on the actors as well as a boom. I mixed the best audio levels from both tracks and added the rest myself on about an average of 6-8 stereo tracks of audio. It's amazing how much time an energy goes into the creation of a soundtrack, music, and effects, to make a good sound.

Sound represents 50% of the experience of any movie, so it's astounding how few filmmakers take the time to make and work with good sound. Nothing will rip you out of a movie faster than bad sound, and yet so many movies, especially from amateurs don't work on or with their audio more.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- and I are preparing for a journey to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a film festival in a few weeks. I can't wait. I'll see several people I met via INDIECLUB, as well as from the other appearances and speaking engagements. I can't wait to meet Uwe Boll. He seems like such a character, but I just confirmed a long sought after dream – I will meet Mark Borchardt from American Movie. In 2000 I met Sara Price and Chris Smith at the Drexel Theatre after the screening when they did a Q&A. The only thing to top this will be to meet Mike Schank and to buy his CD "Songs I Know" and possibly engage in a 1980's metal thrashing guitar solo.

All seems to fare well in Rossdonia these days. The weather remains unseasonably warm. I still have work, and continue to get paid for it. I'm just enjoying the peace and sanity from without.

Rossdonia's activity level has increased exponentially. Editing happens no less than 6 nights a week. Several of which are for the Derek's ETERNAL, more are for a feature length documentary on the Making of Horrors of War. I also did all my own post work on these shorts in between, and I shot and will soon edit a very short musical piece for my cousin, Ian in HD at the studio as a camera test and a post production workflow. So Rossdonia is afire with filmmaking activities.

Working on ETERNAL has many benefits in that I am training another army of assistant editors and that in itself if a microcosm of the real process. They are doing the logging, creating bins, subclips, and organizing everything for the actual editing process. I will let the assistants do a first pass of all the scenes to get us to the assembly, then I'll work directly with the director (the Derek) to fine trim and reduce the film down to its final form.

Aside from the politicking of the politicians, the world seems to be a better place for now. Of course when the real estate bubble bursts, we might all be in deep Shiite, but until then, stay cool my acolytes. Stay way cool.

- Peter John Ross

questions, ratings, rankings, and other idiotic respites

sonnyboo — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:31:40 +0000

My belief is that art is art and filmmakers
are artists. So even Michael Bay, Uwe Boll, and Brett Ratner are all artists in my book. Do I like their movies more than other filmmakers? Nope, but my opinion (and subsequently everyones opinion) that they may or may not suck - that does not change the fact that anyone who makes movies is a filmmaker - and filmmakers are artists.

Who the am I to choose who is and isn't an artist? Who am I to
decide which movies are and aren't art? Who are you or anyone else to make those decisions? My ego is not out of control here. I am in no position to dictate to ANYONE who is and isn't an artist or even a good or bad filmmaker. Who is that arrogant to make such appointments? Not I.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

What did you have to show for yourself as a filmmaker when you were 26?

I made my first short when I was 29, so 3 years prior, when I was 26, I did have a screenplay optioned at Paramount Pictures Classics via Ruth Vitale. I also optioned 2 other scripts to 2 other production companies in the same summer when I lived in Santa Monica. They were never produced and the rights reverted back to me. I have since endeavored to be a director instead of a screenwriter, but that is what I accomplished at 26 years old. I optioned 3 screenplays in LA. I rarely speak on that era.

So now the questions need a slight revision for proper comparison/contrast...

In 6 years of making movies, have your crews gotten larger & more professional?

Have you won any awards from ANYWHERE ever?

Have you ever made a
dime from your "art"?

Have you ever wanted a big budget and subsequently have you raised a nickle?

Has anyone ever paid you to work in film/video in any capacity?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

6 years ago, I made no-budget camcorder shorts with crews ranging from 1-12 people. I have banked more than $30,000 from the DV/16mm shorts alone in profit. The movies have played on 6 continents, on 30+ TV networks, and over 60 film festivals. The whopper is the MILLIONS of views online. Count them, MILLIONS from the dozens of sites my shorts have been online with.

After 6 years, we've been able to raise a budget and shoot a feature on film with a cast & crew of over 300 people with many tens of thousands of dollars. We have DVD distribution
in over a dozen countries and, please note I say "we" because I did not do this alone. John Whitney, my co-director, and Phil Garrett, the producer all deserve just as much credit as me for HORRORS OF WAR. It's not my film, it's OUR
film. Strength in numbers from a film community that in spite of the lonely few whimpers online, seems to help each other out a lot and we accomplish bigger things than DV shorts that a few dozen people see online. I said this at the cast & crew screening - WE made this film. We did the impossible and that makes us mighty. [[Joss Whedon wrote that; I credit my sources]]

I tend to work with professionals now, people who know more than me in their fields (and many times know more about directing than me). I constantly want to surround myself with people who are great at what they do, are generally paid for what they do, and I get to learn from them as I work and try to get better.

On another level, I make a living as a director/editor/producer. Several people & companies felt I was good enough to PAY me for 8 years now. I have made my rent for 7 years solely based on my income from film/video.

I can completely respect someone's opinion that my movies suck. I have never argued that with anyone, at least not since February of 2000, one month after posting my first short films on the web on UNDERGROUNDFILM.COM.

THIS FILM SUCKS and THAT FILM ROCKS - That's subjective, and I like my movies, flaws and all. Does that make me an egomaniac? Maybe. Originality and quality are all subjective. People are entitled to their opinions, so have at it. Everyone's a critic. I have been told I suck on many occassions. I've also been told I was great. Neither really has any effect on my own self image. I keep making movies, and I strive to impress the only critic who matters - ME. I'm not done making
movies because I always want to make my movies better than what I did before. The green eyed monster of JEALOUSY comes out when you hear people loudly proclaim " This movie sucks.... even though it hasn't come out yet and I haven't seen it! I just know it will!!!!!"

I'm okay with people saying my movies unoriginal or uninspiring. I'm not trying to "inspire" anyone when I make a movie. I am trying to tell a story that I have to tell. That's all. I'm not a 2nd grade teacher, so I'm not trying to inspire people to do something or not do something. I want to make movies, tell stories. Period. I can't speak for anyone other than myself.

Last
laugh, first laugh, laughs during the movie, who cares? Everytime I see an art-house experimental piece of garbage, I will chuckle. It could be the most famous movie ever with accolades from every critic on earth and a $100 million box office, but I won't care. I don't like those kinds of movies and they make me laugh. I laugh because they may be the road less travelled, but they are still GENERIC, UNORIGINAL, CLICHE and have every trapping of the corporate machine, just masked with turtlenecks, berets, and cigarettes. All you need is badly shot footage, a voice over, and cheezy music and anyone can have an art-house experimental pile of dog poo.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Here is my last laugh...I'm not rating myself against any other
filmmaker. I only rate myself against me and my own goals and
aspirations. If you want to rate yourself against me, go ahead - my facts & numbers are all here, beat them if you must. I am still trying to beat myself, so I have that in common with the more competitive filmmakers in Columbus.

But the real quest and artistry of one movie versus
another can't really be rated. The real quest should be internal. Are you happy with yourself? Did you make the movies you wanted to make? What else do you have to say in a film? I just don't see those questions relating to OTHER FILMMAKERS. We're talking about art and that is by nature SUBJECTIVE. What kind of douchebag decides to yank their movies off a site when they get a bad review? The world's biggest crybaby, maybe. I have a hard time taking someone like that seriously or considering them even
serious about filmmaking.

As I say often, go make your own movie and do whatever it is you do. If anyone wants to compete with me, feel free. I am not really in a race with anyone, but I have my statistics and numbers and I am proud of them, so I post about them. Do "better" than me, and enjoy the race. My eyes are on my own track and I am not interested in "winning"; I'm only about making my own movies and achieving the goals I set for myself. People telling me I failed because I didn't win an award at Sundance or South by Southwest always strikes me as odd... since I never tried to or aspired to. It seems like some psycho projecting their goals onto me.

- Peter John Ross

Blowing myself because sucking cock is a nice way to spend your Sunday afternoon. And yes, my dick is small. That's why I got good at giving oral sex.

Shades

veenotph — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:11:04 +0000

This piece was shot in response to a film I was shooting for someone
else. I said to myself that I could make a better film than what I was
working on, so after his film wrapped, I gathered the crew, my trusty
Super 16mm Aaton, and 800 feet of Kodachrome that I had been planning
to do some tests with. I wrote a script based on a poem I had written,
and shot the film M.O.S. There was really no budget for this film, but
everyone got fed well, and received transportation, and we only shot 10
hours on each day. On the second shoot day I went to pick up the art
director, who was not home, I discovered as I walked into the apartment
building and into her apartment past her two debilitated roomates who
were not used to seeing the sun. I never did see the art director
again, although she called me a few days later to let me know she was
alive. Ahh the life of independent film. It took a few months to find
someone who would be willing to score the film, as the budget was nil.
However after I just about had given up and was going to try to make
the music, Robbie Pittelman called me. He told me that he could not get
the film out of his head, and it would be a fine project for his last
freebie. He wrote a tremendous score I felt, and we only argued about
the scratchy phongraph sound over the credits. Finally he let me have
my way on that. From a cinmematographers standpoint, Kodachrome just
kicked my butt. It is so slow, that getting enough light for exposure
required a lot of tweaking. It is a beautiful film, and the color
pallatte is exquisite. I miss it now that it is gone. Hope you enjoy
the film. For more information go to http://www.gladstonefilms.com/shades...

Please note, there is an ad at the end of the piece, which comes on after the end credits. I'm posting this via revver because I can potentially make some money there, and I think Karmacritic gets some too. If you you click on the ad intending to buy something.