"Chemistry" DVD Cover

I'm currently working on the DVD cover for my Intermediate Filmmaking final "Chemistry." Now that I mentioned it, I should put the video up here. But the cover is a working progress. I don't know what else to put on it. Maybe the synopsis or a still from the film. And I don't know if a white background will work but I think it's looking good so far. I'm just waiting for a word from the director of what she wants me to change or add or remove.

"Chemistry"

Hope has given up on love until she is prescribed a drug that has the power to make her fall in love.

"Chemistry" is my final project for TFM360 - Intermediate Filmmaking. Nora Soto wrote and directed it. I produced it. Banyon Geneva DP'd and edited it. We used the Sony F-3. Amazing camera, btw. The quality is so beautiful, I can't get over it. I wish we could upload the film in HD quality.

Title create by me, Photoshop CS5

I'm happy with the result but the #1 thing I would change about it is the location. The psychiatrist office location was nothing but quiet. Pipes from the air conditioning were constantly banging and can be heard in the talents' dialogue. It pisses me off to the max. We had to fix it with an ADR session but only one of the actors were able to make it in time to fix it for the film festival. But Banyon did an excellent job covering the banging noise. It's still there, but it's not as audible.

My producing skills definitely improved. I'm proud of myself for the job I did, but I should of taken the role to be location manager so we can avoid the whole banging incident. Besides that, I was able to get a good amount of food donations from Henry's, Vons, Albertsons, etc. Plenty of people auditioned for a role in the film and we had a cast of reliable actors that were excited to be a part of "Chemistry." Nora helped me even though her plate was already full. We definitely work well as a group, mainly because we've worked with each other before. It can be difficult to work with other people because they have different creative viewpoints for the film.

I'm excited for TFM560 - Advanced Filmmaking because all of our projects will be original scripts by our classmates. NO MORE SCENES STUDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

NAAAAAAA SAAABEEENNNYAAA

Simba!

I am trying to create my own non-copyright version of the beginning section of "Circle of Life" for my film so I can submit it to the SDSU Student Film Showcase. My attempts to recreate the famous "NAAAAAAA SAAABEEENNNYAAA" yell are a fail. Nothing beats the original. Looks like I'm not submitting it. I think I already have an audience online for the video anyway.

Chula Vista fields

This is my most recent film. Sorry, it doesn't have a title. It's not my most "serious" piece of work. My final Cinematography project was doomed from the start; Professor Underwood assigned our final projects due the same week. Of course everyone chose to focus on the bigger project, the Intermediate Filmmaking final. By assigning us to create 10 perfect shots with such little time on our hands, the quality was sure to deteriorate.

Lily, Froco, Xzavier, and Brian

In class, we intricately chose the theme for our project. I put out the idea for "food porn" and it was going to be really easy to shoot. Another was "time" and... something else. I forgot. But we ended with the theme "out of place." I guess I interpreted that as "random as hell."

So I originally wrote a script for the film to have the entire film to be POV with 3 stops in the journey ending with a guy in a chicken suit attacking. But Samantha had to leave for Carlo's house early so I had to change the entire story on the spot. I kept the badminton idea. I mean... playing badminton in a middle of a field... super "out of place." Hahah.

As for the inflatable Pokeball, it was part of my goodies bag. I brought a bag full of random crap, including a Dave and Busters cup full of tickets. And I also wanted Lily to make a surprise appearance in the film. Almost like a redemption for my last cinematography project (which was the absolute worst in the class).

David, Lily and I

I couldn't have made the film without David. He was a big help in the film. He provided the location (guerilla filmmaking), the equipment (audio recorder and Canon Mark 5D), most of the story ideas, he operated the camera, and gave me a quick lesson in filming the sun. I'm really not cut out for operating the camera or lighting equipment. I shine in pre-production and post-production. But I absolutely love being on set. I still have to take a stab at directing.

This isn't my best work and I know if I was better prepared that I could have made a better film but I like the outcome. My family found it entertaining and so do Brian and Froco so that's cool. I'm going to have to see what Rich thinks about the cinematography. Lots of soft shots...

Film jargon for clothespin

The Big Lebowski scene study

I don't know where to start. I should have started blogging about my endeavors of filmmaking the moment I realized I wanted to work in film.

This blog will consist of the journey to become an editor and/or producer, the films I've been a part of, movie reviews, production stills, etc. I mainly wanted to start blogging because of my Business of Aspects class. Our midterm and final consist of a journal commenting about our guests in our class, what we learned from it, and how we are progressing in our goals. It proved to be helpful to reflect on what I learned and my goals and I want to keep on doing that even though our last class meeting was Wednesday. So thanks Professor Montel for your class and teaching us to be successful in the business the best way that you can.

Note to self: I need more pictures of myself working on set. Too bad I'm always the one taking production stills. Womp womp.